Former UK foreign secretary William Hague takes key role at new flagship Dubai school

Hague will serve as honorary patron of Gems School of Research and Innovation, which is set to open for the new academic year

William Hague will advise on the Gems School of Research and Innovation's vision and technology. Photo: Reuters

Former UK foreign secretary William Hague is to serve as honorary patron of the flagship Gems School of Research and Innovation, which is opening in Dubai in August.

Mr Hague, who is also chancellor of the University of Oxford, will advise on the school’s vision and technology, innovation and artificial intelligence, Gems said on Tuesday. He plans to visit the campus this year.

He said the new school in Dubai aims to prepare the next generation for a changing world and he hopes to assist in that.

“I’ve been advocating for years that education has to be attuned to rapid change in the world, to use new technologies,” Mr Hague told The National in an exclusive interview.

“But at the same time, don't let children be dominated by technology. It's a world of values of arts and sports and music and so on. So when I heard about this school, I thought it has the potential to be a really powerful combination of all of these things.

“There are many worrying things in the future but we can't wish them away, so let's prepare.”

Gems School of Research and Innovation will open in August 2025 in Dubai Sports City. Source: Gems Education

Gems School of Research and Innovation in Dubai Sports City has been built with an investment of $100 million (Dh367 million) and will feature an elevated football field that doubles as a helipad, a 600-seat auditorium, an Olympic-size swimming pool and an NBA-spec basketball court.

The campus also has disruption labs to develop entrepreneurial skills, specialist primary spaces for technology, design, sports and the arts, tech hubs and an immersive research centre. Fees range from Dh116,000 ($31,500) for pupils in foundation stage one to Dh206,000 in year 12, and enrolment is open.

In a wide-ranging interview, Mr Hague reflected on why he is supporting the school, his own school days, lessons for pupils and the power and challenges of artificial intelligence.

Crossing party lines

Discussing technology, Mr Hague, who is also a past leader of the UK Conservative Party, said he had written a series of papers over the past two years with former British Labour prime minister Tony Blair.

“Of course, he used to be my greatest political enemy,” he said with a chuckle. "And now we are writing papers together on what we think is the biggest ever challenge for the modern state of using new technology but guarding against its dangers as well.”

Mr Hague said artificial intelligence could be used to boost the productivity of teachers through lesson planning, monitoring progress and giving updated tuition. But it was crucial that schools struck a balance when using technology.

“It is really important that school education remains a very human experience and that young people are not forever scrolling through their smartphone instead of doing anything else,” he said.

“With all the plans for this school involving great sports facilities and an auditorium, there are clearly plans for strong cultural programmes, for arts and music [and] tremendously good sporting facilities.”

Mr Hague said AI in education was a difficult and evolving challenge but the technology could be used as a kind of “co-intelligence”.

“Not a substitute for human intelligence, but something that you can work with to enhance creativity, to get new ideas.”

Preparing for the future

He said it would be important to get pupils used to the concepts, boost Stem (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) skills and make sure these key areas are strong. However, the whole process has “got to be holistic”.

“It requires ethics, it requires an understanding of history [and] it requires good use of language.

“Nothing that happens in technology changes the need for that human interaction – to be inspired by human beings who love their subject and know how to communicate it. You could not do all of this remotely.”

E-sports facilities at the Gems School of Research and Innovation. Source: Gems Education

Mr Hague was born in Rotherham, a manufacturing town in Yorkshire. He attended a local state school before taking a place at Magdalen College, Oxford. He made headlines when he was only 16, addressing the Conservative Party at its 1977 annual conference. “It’s all right for some of you, half of you won’t be here in 30 or 40 years’ time,” the teenager told the conference.

Talking about his own school days, he told The National “nobody had dreamt of any computers or anything like that” in 1972 when he started secondary education, but sports was an area that could have been improved.

“I was one of those people who was no good at team sport, the rugby and the football, but later took up a great interest in martial arts and learnt to do judo. Most people will be good at one sport or another if they get the opportunity to do it,” he said.

“This looks like the sort of school which will bring out whatever is somebody's sporting aptitude, as well as prepare them for future world of work.”

Mr Hague said there was a lot of anxiety and loneliness among young people around the world with the rise of social media among the many causes. Getting together in a classroom was crucial in tackling that.

“Education at all levels has a big role to play in combating that and in making sure that there's human interaction there.”

Mr Hague served as the UK’s foreign secretary from 2010 to 2014. He said this is a more dangerous time but also more exciting, with the world on the brink of important medical breakthroughs, new vaccines and treatments.

“It's important not to be too bleak about it,” he said. “It's important to prepare people to play their part in that excitement while also being ready for the dangers, because clearly for young people, yes, the idea of a fixed career for their life is much less likely to come to fruition.

“There are more threats of pandemics, of conflict, more economic ups and downs … therefore, you have to build resilient young people. The key words for the future are resilience and reinvention.”

Mr Hague advised young people to keep pushing ahead, adding that he went to Oxford from a school that had not sent a pupil there for many years.

“There are fewer ceilings than you'd think if you just keep smashing through, showing up and working hard,” he said. “Don't assume there are barriers in your way. You really can achieve a lot in your life.”