Education

Emirati high school pupils to train in nuclear industry in South Korea

Fifty students from Institutes of Applied Technology will spend most of July in Seoul on internship programme run by Korea Electric Power Corporation.

Kathryn Lewis

May 04, 2010

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  • Arabic

ABU DHABI // Top high school pupils will take part in a new exchange programme in South Korea this summer to help train UAE nationals for careers in the nuclear industry. Fifty Grade 11 students, aged 16 or 17, from the Institutes of Applied Technology (IAT), a network of high schools established by the Government in 2005 to train scientists, engineers and technicians, will spend most of July in Seoul.

They will take part in an internship programme run by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), which leads a consortium that has been contracted to build nuclear power plants in the UAE. The programme, announced yesterday, is a collaboration between Kepco and the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (Enec). The IAT has been given the task of producing students capable of working in the UAE's nuclear sector when the plants come online in 2017.

All signs suggest the Seoul programme will be the first of many such training opportunities for young nationals. Male and female pupils who will make up the first batch of Emirati trainees will be selected from a pool of more than 150 applicants from the institutes in early June. The programme will include field trips to nuclear power plants in South Korea. Each student will be assessed on their academic and practical performance and potential. Some pupils will start the programme in Seoul as early as July 10.

Dr Abdullatif al Shamsi, the institute's director general, said one of the programme's goals was to get locals interested in nuclear energy at an early age. "It's the beginning of putting these students on track for the nuclear profession," Dr al Shamsi said. To this end, the IAT will also launch a three-year diploma programme in 2011 to train young Emiratis to work as nuclear technicians at the power plants.

The chief executive of Enec, Mr Muhammed al Hammadi, said nuclear energy was a critical part of the UAE's future. "That's why we need to build human resources." @Email:klewis@thenational.ae

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On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE

Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”

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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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