The UAE has strong educational links with the United States that span everything from early schooling up to university level and they were strengthened this week with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries.
The agreement aims to promote the sharing of best practice and research in areas including special-needs education.
Signed by the UAE Minister of Education, Dr Hanif Hassan, and Margaret Spellings, the US secretary of education, during a four-day visit to the UAE, the memorandum will also lead to exchange programmes for teachers and students.
The UAE has many American-curriculum private schools, among them the American International School in Abu Dhabi and the American School of Dubai, which take children from kindergarten and above. Many government schools have input from US education officials through the Madares Al Ghad programme, which has brought mentors into schools to help principals and teachers.
Around half of the 36 principal mentors are Americans. The Ministry of Education’s policy and planning director, Dr Vincent Ferrandino, who helped to set up the programme, is also an American who previously served as executive director of the US National Association of Elementary School Principals.
At the tertiary level, links between the two countries are equally strong and set to grow in the coming years.
Several universities in the UAE follow the American model of higher education. Among them are the American University in Dubai and the American University of Sharjah, which is accredited by the Philadelphia-based Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
US universities are showing increasing interest in establishing campuses in the UAE. George Mason University was the first to open here when its branch in Ras al Khaimah began accepting students in 2006. It is likely to be followed by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, which is hoping to open a hospitality and hotel management college in RAK.
New York University will build a campus on Saadiyat Island for 2,000 undergraduates, 800 postgraduates and 200 students on foundation courses. It is due to open in 2010 and will award degrees identical to those of its parent institution.
Yale, another top US university, was in talks about setting up a campus in the capital, but pulled out as it did not want to create a branch that awarded degrees.
The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, the alternative-energy research centre planned for the carbon-neutral Masdar City in Abu Dhabi, is being created with the assistance of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Science and Technology.
The United States is also a popular destination for Emiratis studying abroad, with 246 UAE nationals travelling to America on scholarships from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research last year.
This is the second highest number for any foreign country, with only Australia attracting more students.
The figures show that interest in travelling to the United States has recovered following a drop in the wake of the Sept 11 attacks in 2001. Last year’s number of Emirati scholars was almost twice that of seven years ago.