More research should be carried out in universities to fuel the country’s economic growth, says a senior academic.
“In terms of master’s level and doctorate education, research is vital for innovation and economic growth,” said Professor Ashly Pinnington, dean of the faculty of business at the British University in Dubai. “It is particularly important for the development of long-term proprietary innovation and economic growth that would be of benefit to the Gulf region and Arab countries.”
The British University is planning to offer research-based doctorate degrees for the first time once it has secured approval from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. It is also considering opening a campus in Abu Dhabi.
Prof Pinnington said innovation and invention were crucial components of a successful business, offering “the opportunity for businesses to be the first to the market with their knowledge and their products and services”.
Invention could mean “anything from new forms of internet and e-advertising services over mobile phones to patents on engineering products”.
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, who has conceded that the UAE has “not yet formed a research culture”, recently called for more research to be undertaken in higher-education institutions.
At present, the majority of universities focus on taught undergraduate and master’s degree programmes, rather than research-based study.
The British University, which offers courses in association with five partner institutions in the UK, has around 400 students in master’s degree courses at its Knowledge Village campus. All of them must spend at least four months of their year-long course on a research project. The university, founded in 2004, does not take undergraduate students.
The university is now accepting applications from students who want to take doctorates in education, and is also hoping to offer PhD degrees in the future.
“Because we offer research-based education, we see it as vital that all of our students have the capability to design and implement research as well as being able to evaluate research,” Prof Pinnington said.
A total of 36 students recently graduated from the university with master’s degrees, up from 14 last year. Many were sponsored by the Emirates Foundation.
Prof Pinnington said the university was hoping to expand into the UAE capital, possibly by opening a campus there.
“We are thinking very hard about ways we could operate further in Abu Dhabi. Whether that’s a campus or some other way remains to be seen,” he said, adding that it was also likely that the university would move its base from Knowledge Village to Dubai Academic City.
As recently reported in The National, Heriot-Watt University in Dubai Academic City is taking applications from PhD students, making it the first foreign branch of an overseas institution to offer doctorates.
Daniel Bardsley