Children during a class at Al Rabeeh School. Education officials are seeking feedback on schools performance in Abu Dhabi. Jaime Puebla / The National
Children during a class at Al Rabeeh School. Education officials are seeking feedback on schools performance in Abu Dhabi. Jaime Puebla / The National
Children during a class at Al Rabeeh School. Education officials are seeking feedback on schools performance in Abu Dhabi. Jaime Puebla / The National
Children during a class at Al Rabeeh School. Education officials are seeking feedback on schools performance in Abu Dhabi. Jaime Puebla / The National

Parents and pupils get a say on Abu Dhabi schools


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ABU DHABI // Education officials are seeking feedback from parents and pupils in a bid to improve schools in the capital.

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) posted a satisfaction survey on its website, inviting parents and children to speak their mind about the quality of education.

The survey is divided into two parts: the first to be filled by parents of children in state and private schools and the other accessible to pupils in Grade 5 to Grade 12 at state schools.

Dr Mugheer Khamis Al Khaili, director general of Adec, said the survey will help rate the performance of each school and will be a source for identifying areas in need of improvement.

“The feedback will also help us create a national workforce in scientific and technology related disciplines, which require our schools to promote a learning environment that fosters innovation and academic excellence,” said Dr Al Khaili.

The questionnaire asks participants to rate the teaching, level of  improvement, communication and facilities. They are also asked for opinions on the school environment, its performance, quality of curriculum, the leadership and staff.

Every parent has been sent a username and password to access the 15-minute survey, which consists of 32 questions for parents and 21 for children.

Adec has been conducting the survey since 2009 and 50,000 parents took part last year. That survey revealed children spend not more than 30 minutes on average studying after school hours.

Dr Masood Badri, executive director of the research and planning department at Adec, said parents should take the surveys seriously as their answers contribute to effective decision making.

“Feedback will be used to make more informed decision while developing and improving schools programmes,” said Dr Badri.

“Their inputs play a crucial role in identifying the important areas for school improvement.”

Dr Badri said the survey for pupils helped to gauge their satisfaction with the school environment and communication with teachers.

The survey is available at www.adec.ac.ae

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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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Our legal advisor

Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.

Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation. 

Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.