The Abu Dhabi government aspires to transform the Emirate into an innovation-based, knowledge producing society. Its vision is to build an oasis for the pursuit of knowledge and discovery, strongly connected to the world’s global society and economy and yet deeply rooted in the culture and heritage of the Emirate.
The Abu Dhabi Education Council will support this vision by transforming the Education Sector into one that stimulates intellectual growth, promotes scientific research, innovation, ethics, critical thinking, culture and heritage, contributes to sustainable economic development and diversification, adapts to changing social, labor market and human capacity needs, and provides equal opportunities by being accessible to all qualified students.
In order to overcome the main challenges that the current system faces, four priorities will lead the transformation of Abu Dhabi into a Knowledge Society supported by a diversified economy:
1. Raising the quality of Abu Dhabi’s higher education system to internationally recognized levels;
2. Aligning higher education with Abu Dhabi’s social, cultural, and economic needs;
3. Building and maintaining a research eco-system to drive an innovation-based economy;
4. Providing all qualified students with affordable access to higher education.
Each priority will be delivered through a number of flagship strategic initiatives and will be measured accordingly.
The Abu Dhabi Higher Education Strategy is committed a two-pronged approach to elevate the quality of the Sector by building and strengthening local capacity, and by partnering with best-in-class entities to take part in the global development of Higher Education.
Vision
The Abu Dhabi higher education system aims to enhance intellectual growth and equal opportunity among its population, by being accessible to all qualified students. It will promote leadership, ethics, culture and heritage among its student body. It will ensure high quality teaching, learning, research and continuing education, in order to be competitive, innovative, and internationally recognized. The system will be comprehensive and flexible, recognizing changing social, labor market and human capacity needs while contributing to sustainable economic development and diversification
Mission
The mission of the Abu Dhabi Education Council is to lay the foundation for an Innovation-based, knowledge producing society by:
§ Elevating the quality of Higher Education to international standards through partnerships with world class universities, high licensing and accreditation standards, requirements and incentives for continuous improvement
§ Promoting and incentivizing innovation, scholarship and discovery through major research funding in areas of strategic importance to Abu Dhabi, thereby building a strong community of scientists and scholars
§ Carefully aligning Higher Education with labor market and socio-economic needs, guided by the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 and Abu Dhabi’s Policy Agenda