Students enrolled with UAE universities can pursue online courses with international universities

Under a new remote learning project to be implemented by the Ministry of Education, students enrolled with UAE universities will be able to pursue online courses with international universities. This was revealed by the UAE Minister of Education Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi on Thursday, the second day of the “Remote” forum that aims to activate the nation’s pragmatic agenda for remote work, remote education and remote healthcare.

On the sidelines of the forum, he said that, micro credentials will be introduced, where students can be enrolled in a university in the UAE and as part of the programme, take an online programme that students get credit to.

Micro credentials provide qualifications that can help students learn new subjects and skills that are not part of their university curriculum.

The minister further explained that students can be enrolled at the university here. And then one of the courses they can take online with one of the accredited institutions...and the student will get credit for it at their own university. Student do not have to do all of their courses all in person at that university. They can choose a few that can be done remotely at another university, but still get credit for it at their own local university. That’s how it is planned to integrate remote education.

Another speaker on the day, Michael Allen, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Zayed University, told Gulf News that universities will be encouraging micro credentials to enable students graduate with additional qualifications.

When students graduate with a regular bachelor's degree, he said, other courses get embedded with it, providing micro credentials.

Addressing a panel discussion on “Beyond the Campus : Exploring Opportunities and Challenges for Remote Higher Education,“ Noura Bint Mohammed Al Kaabi,

Minister of State and President of Zayed University, said universities should abolish the boundaries set around them and explore partnership opportunities that enable students to be future-ready.

In this regard, she said Zayed University has launched an initiative titled “Partner Challenge.” Through this initiative, each student is linked to a private company and is tasked to complete a real life challenge based on what they are learning during the academic year.

The initiative is expected to help students be future-ready before they graduate, said Al Kaabi.

“When our first cohort (enrolled in this initiative) graduates in 2025, each student will have a position with a private or public entity,” she said.