Under the patronage of H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and President of the Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), the ECSSR convened its Fourth Annual Education Conference under the title “The Future of Education in the UAE: Innovation and Knowledge Production,” on September 17-18, 2013 at its office complex in Abu Dhabi.

The objective of this conference was to support the UAE’s ongoing efforts to develop an effective and innovative education system that prepares its students and its educational institutions to contribute to the UAE’s growing knowledge economy and to compete with their peers internationally. This conference aimed to offer a clear and useful set of recommendations for future education policy; the international scholars invited to the conference offered the latest theoretical perspectives on educational reform, while experts from within the UAE aligned those theories with the practical realities of the country’s current education system.

Three panels of experts discussed the topics of innovation, knowledge production and internationalization. The conference began with a discussion of ways to foster innovation and creative thinking among the UAE’s students. A second panel examined the role of the education system in the knowledge economy. On the second day, experts discussed the internationalization of education in the UAE. A fourth and final panel offered students from UAE-based universities the opportunity to reflect on their education and its relation to their future plans.

Program     Welcoming Remarks     Closing Remarks

First Day Video