Hundreds of Emirati students will receive free English-language training this summer in an effort to save the time and money spent on foundation courses during their first year at government universities.
Up to 300 students will attend an eight-week course organised by Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), which runs education in the emirate, before starting at one of the three universities.
The training, which will be free and voluntary, will aim to enable the students to start degree or diploma courses without undergoing a yearlong foundation programme.
Instruction is in English at Zayed University, UAE University and the Higher Colleges of Technology, and one third of their teaching budgets is spent on foundation courses that aim to get students up to scratch in subjects such as English, mathematics and IT.
The cost and time spent on them has created concerns that government schools are not preparing UAE nationals for university.
Fatma al Marri, the chief executive of the KHDA’s Dubai Schools Agency (DSA), which is running the courses, said the English lessons should “bridge the gap” between school and university and make foundation courses obsolete.
“This gap represents a big challenge for our educational system. It takes up time and money that would be better spent preparing students for the job market,” she said. “The extensive programme to enhance the English-language skills of national students is so they can enrol directly into their majors, without a year in foundation.”
The DSA has launched an advertising campaign to promote the course, which will have between 240 and 300 students – less than five per cent of the annual student intake of the government universities.
Students will attend for four and a half hours a day, five days a week, for eight weeks – a total of 180 hours of tuition.
Teaching will be by native English speakers From Zayed University and the British Council, and the course will start at Dubai International Academic City on June 15.
The KHDA will evaluate the success of the course when deciding whether to run similar lessons in future.
Last week, the results of the Common Educational Proficiency Assessment (Cepa) English test, taken by grade 12 school-leavers, showed that 74 per cent of pupils scored 150 or more, the figure needed to join a government university.
Only 11 per cent of university applicants scored the 180 needed to start a degree or diploma course without extra English training.
This summer’s English course is for students who scored more than 160 in the Cepa English exam.
Earlier this year, Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the minister of higher education and scientific research, said government schools were “absolutely not” preparing students adequately for university. He called for a change in their culture and teaching methods to help reduce the need for university foundation programmes.
Initiatives aimed at improving English skills at government schools are under way, including the creation of Madares Al Ghad (Schools of the Future) and public-private partnership schools, where more time is spent on English teaching.