ABU DHABI // Education officials have launched a recruitment drive to attract English-speaking teachers as part of a strategy to teach high school science and maths classes in English by 2012. Already 400 native English-speaking staff have been hired, with more to follow and start work at the beginning of the next school year. The new staff will be a combination of primary school teachers, who will give maths and science lessons in English, and secondary school teachers who will provide extra English classes.
The Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) announced the new approach on Monday as part of the launch of its 10-year strategy. The new plan will see classes in all of the emirate's state high schools extended by 90 minutes for four days of the week. The school year will also be extended by 10 days. The initiative follows the publication this year of results showing that only 13 per cent of university applicants could start degree courses without completing a remedial programme to boost their English. Less than one in 10 English-speaking teachers met the minimum standard of proficiency.
There are more than 13,000 teachers operating in state schools in the emirate, said Robert Thompson, the head of public relations and special projects at Adec. He said the recruitment drive "will make a difference. It is only a beginning." Dhuha al Tamimi, 21, who recently graduated from Qatr al Nada School for Girls, in Beda Zayed, and has enrolled in Al Hosn University in Abu Dhabi, said: "They should have done this a long time ago. High school is a crucial stage for students because they are aiming for high grades that would help them get into university, so they should have been taught Arabic and English earlier."
chamilton@thenational.ae * With additional reporting by Lubna Bagsair and Asma al Jeelani
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- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
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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.
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BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
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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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