Education

Adec invites suggestions on improving education in Abu Dhabi

The emirate’s education regulator will post a questionnaire on its website on Sunday that will be online until Thursday for the public to fill out.

Roberta Pennington

June 26, 2016

ABU DHABI // The Abu Dhabi Education Council is urging students, teachers, parents, staff and other stakeholders to suggest how education in the emirate can improve.

The emirate’s education regulator will post a questionnaire on its website on Sunday that will be online until Thursday for the public to fill out. Adec will also communicate details of the Education First campaign to parents, students and staff by SMS and eSIS, the student information system. The public is also welcome to broadcast comments or suggestions to Adec through social media using the hashtag #EducationFirst.

“This is a public outreach programme to receive comments, criticism and feedback from members of the public,” said Adec Director General Dr. Ali Al Noaimi. “Improvement is pivotal. It is extremely important to change with the times, keep up with improvements and progression. How you do it is to listen to people who work in the sector and everyone who works with Adec so that we can improve what we do.”

Dr Al Noaimi said principals at public schools across the emirate are being asked to hold school-wide workshops with their staff this week to come up with a list of recommendations on how to address shortcomings in the education system. Each public school is expected to hand in a report to Adec at the end of the week Dr Al Noaimi.

“Each school leader will be required to conduct these workshops in their schools, analyze Adec’s role in education, give us their opinion about how Adec has been conducting different projects,” said Dr Al Noaimi. “Whether it is regarding curriculum, whether it has to do with professional development, whether it is related to facilities, whether it is in regards to partnerships with parents or strengths and weaknesses and evaluation performance levels with teachers and school leaders. They’ll cover everything with this workshop.”

Dr Al Noaimi said Adec will take suggestions from the #EducationFirst campaign “very seriously.”

“We can’t meet the target or the objectives involved in leading education reform in Abu Dhabi unless all these partners participate actively in it,” he said. “They have to play a role in managing this reform.”

rpennington@thenational.ae

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

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Dos

  • Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion 
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Don’ts 

  • Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal 
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What: Emirates Airline Festival of Literature

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On Women's Day
West Asia Premiership

Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles

Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain

Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins

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Star rating: 2/5

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Cultural fiesta

What: The Al Burda Festival
When: November 14 (from 10am)
Where: Warehouse421,  Abu Dhabi
The Al Burda Festival is a celebration of Islamic art and culture, featuring talks, performances and exhibitions. Organised by the Ministry of Culture and Knowledge Development, this one-day event opens with a session on the future of Islamic art. With this in mind, it is followed by a number of workshops and “masterclass” sessions in everything from calligraphy and typography to geometry and the origins of Islamic design. There will also be discussions on subjects including ‘Who is the Audience for Islamic Art?’ and ‘New Markets for Islamic Design.’ A live performance from Kuwaiti guitarist Yousif Yaseen should be one of the highlights of the day.