The UAE witnessed a major shift in its higher education strategy sometime back the announcement by Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, to establish the National Authority for Scientific Research – NASR.
Such an authority has long been an important requirement — one which I have in fact discussed and demanded in some of my articles published in Notes over the years. The government has finally acknowledged the strategic need for educational research in the field of higher education.
NASR is not only the first such authority in the UAE but also in the Gulf region; it is a major cornerstone of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. The new authority will have a board of trustees which will supervise its activities and annual expenditure.
Focus on national priorities
NASR will have a nation-based research agenda which will focus on the top national priorities that contribute to the national development process. The issues that will be discussed within NASR will include energy, water, biotechnology, engineering, economy and social science.
The establishment of NASR was a response to the rapid economic development levels of the UAE which requires reliable scientific research in order to maintain the continuous transfer of knowledge and technologies to society.
Before the establishment of NASR, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research examined research organisations and policies in 20 countries in order to be able to establish an authority based on the best international standards. The annual budget of NASR is Dh100 million; however, NASR will work on arranging other sources of income from the public and private sectors.
NASR's programmes will be based on a number of values and principles including those of creativity and quality; collaboration between higher education institutions and research centres; transparency; commitment; permanent improvement; and professional efficiency.
How NASR will be evaluated
An annual evaluation of the authority's performance will be based on:
The quality of the conducted research;
The real scientific benefits of the studies in developing the economic, cultural and social aspects of the UAE;
The level of the national participation in conducting research programmes at NASR;
The success of NASR in preparing national researchers;
The degree of collaboration between NASR and other relevant national and international research institutions;
The increase in the national recognition of the importance of scientific research; and
The overall satisfaction with the performance of NASR nationwide.
The challenges
There is no doubt that the establishment of NASR reflects the importance that UAE decision makers are according to scientific research in development policies. However, there are several potential challenges that NASR will have to confront and find appropriate solutions for.
The first challenge is the annual budget. As has been published recently, the Higher Colleges of Technology in Dubai plans to halt bachelor programmes due to a lack of financial resources. This is a situation that our public higher education institutions have been facing for many years. My concern is how NASR will maintain its budget every year in order to expand its activities — rather than be forced to curtail them.
The second challenge is the degree of collaboration that NASR can establish with public and private organisations that have potential statistics and strategic studies. The expected relationship between NASR and these organisations will enable the authority to establish up-to-date databases in various subjects.
The third challenge will be NASR's ability to conduct its own surveys which aim at gathering adequate statistics and facts. This process requires qualified and experienced researchers with strong backgrounds in both research and statistics.
The fourth challenge is the nature of the relationship NASR will have with both higher education institutions and research centres in the UAE. It is a fact that the United Arab Emirates University; Zayed University and the Higher Colleges of Technology have their own research divisions and they will definitely cooperate with NASR. However it is also essential to have the other higher education institutions and relevant research centres cooperate with NASR in order to produce top quality and adequate research studies.
The fifth challenge would be the level of collaboration that NASR has with local councils of education in some emirates. These councils are performing many functions within the higher education area and it is important that NASR establish a strategic connection with them.
The sixth and last challenge is the significance of the findings of NASR's research studies. The authority's role must not be limited to consultancy aspects alone; it must have a powerful role as a facilitator in order to ensure the accomplishment of its mission.
— The writer is a UAE national academic and thinker
NASR's mission
The National Authority of Scientific Research (NASR) will:
Make an annual research plan and implement it;
Arrange additional sources of income;
Publish the findings of various research studies;
To accomplish its mission NASR will
Identify the top national research priorities;
Conduct an annual finance programme aimed at producing strategic studies;
Organise research competitions nationwide;
Offer research scholarships;
Coordinate with higher education institutions and research centres in the country;
Increase awareness about the importance of research, creativity and development;
Encourage and guide the national cadres in the field of conducting scientific research;
Recruit qualified and experienced researchers from inside and outside the UAE in order to conduct strategic research programmes;
Organise specialised conferences and scientific gatherings;
Create specialised databases and coordinate with relevant organisations to regulate the registration process for inventions and intellectual property in scientific research.
By Abdullah Al Shaiba, Notes Report