DUBAI // The country must revamp its higher educational policies to encourage critical thinking if it is to achieve a just society, leading educators say.
"The current education system in place in the UAE and most of the Gulf does not allow for independent 'out of the box' thinking," Dr SM Tahir, chairman of the Iqra Group, told students at Leadership in Action, a five-day youth conference that opened in Dubai yesterday.
"Not having the right educational system in place will lead to shortcomings in a society that is relatively young like this one," he said. If the UAE hoped to avoid a brain drain, it would need to develop a well-rounded educational programme that "provides a very strong underpinning [of] equity".
"At the moment, the focus is on finance, engineering and technology, but to have a complete society you need to introduce other disciplines such as social studies, philosophy and classics," he told more than 50 students aged between 16 and 20.
He praised the conference for providing students with expanded learning opportunities.
"We have more than 50 of the best students here, and an event such as this allows them to think analytically by exchanging ideas and directly communicating with other high achievers from other countries, via video link. It is something that they would never get at colleges or universities here." Patrick Dainley, a UK-based academic, said students needed to be taught independent thinking or risk always being told what to do by people from abroad.
"University courses in the Emirates are commercially driven, and that is the biggest risk to national identity," said Mr Dainley, the director of the sociology department at Greenwich University in London. He recommended that the UAE build its own versions of Oxford and Cambridge, because "such universities can keep open space for creative and critical thought".
"Students should have the option to do research-based degrees instead of applied. 'Blue skies', open-minded research needs to be introduced."
Students in the UAE needed "some room for reflection, discussion, critical analysis and thinking", if society is to grow, he added.
"Most of the courses provided are applied and narrow. Graduates will always be dictated to by other people ... they will always be told what to do by some else."
He warned that without significant changes to educational policies, business and trade would "run the society", and top academic achievers would wind up with low-level jobs.
Students must also strive for a sustainable society that considered the needs of all of its citizens, he said.
"Look at the recent trend of not moving out of the way of ambulances; people are only thinking about themselves because they missed out on ethical training, something universities should provide.
"There are big ethical questions tied to this. I suppose engineers have the same question; you have a great engineer, but he does not think about the social and environment question, he does not think about the big picture, before going ahead and planning a new development," said Mr Dainley.
shafez@thenational.ae
Salam Hafez