Deficiencies in education and poor prospects for economic growth in the Gulf countries: The case of the UAE

Abstract

Our paper shows that the deficient educational system and the large share of unskilled foreign workers in the Gulf countries are serious impediments to a successful implementation of the strategies of these countries to reduce their dependence on foreign technologies and to restructure their economies in order to make them less dependent on oil exports. A novel element in our analysis is that we emphasise the role of the deficient educational system as an important problem, next to the well-documented quandary of a high incidence of unskilled foreign workers in the workforce. We use new survey data, both at an establishment level and economy-wide, to provide evidence on how the poor educational facilities lead to a poor provision of training, low skill levels, serious skills mismatch and deficient transfer of knowledge. These inadequate facilities and the lack of incentives to improve them also lead to low R&D efforts to promote local technologies and hamper a restructuring of the economy.

Assessment of Science and Technology Indicators in Sudan

“…Sudan is experienced rapid economic growth followed by slight slow down, that most probably due to its heavy dependence on oil. We measure the demand for and supply of technologies in Sudan using the measurement of demand for and supply of technologies in the Gulf countries discussed in Muysken and Nour (2005). Our results show that on the demand side when using the share of chemicals, manufactured goods, machinery and equipment, transport equipment, petroleum products in total imports as a measure of the demand for imported technology or dependence on foreign technologies, we find heavy dependence on imported technology or dependence on foreign technologies in Sudan.…”

“…Engineering skills index is the same as the previous index, with tertiary enrolments in engineering instead of enrolment in technical subjects" (Lall, 1999: p.52). 13 See also Muysken and Nour (2005) and UNDP-AHDR (2003).…”

The explanations for the low quality in MENA Public schools in comparison to the private schools

“…Furthermore, extreme attention is required towards planning of curriculum which shall consist of classroom activities for enhancing the learning experience of students. The curriculum changes shall be proficient enough to match the modern educational demands and should contain flexible activities that can be easily performed by students with different mental abilities (Muysken and Nour, 2006).…”

Challenges to creating an Arabian Gulf knowledge economy

“…Yet, the situation is a more complex one than this suggests because while the wealth of nations may mean that GCC citizens and national systems have ample resources available to them, output may not correspond to this supply of resources (Baker et al, 2002) In particular, the institutional contexts of schools at both the national and school levels influence students' academic performance, which is an indicator of knowledge production À a core component of NIS development (Ramirez et al, 2006). While many GCC countries post large economic growth and development potential, their domestic investment in education and educational infrastructure remain at levels comparable to those of developing nations with an interesting exception: ICT (Muysken & Nour, 2006). Table 2 shows how education and innovation in the GCC compares both within the GCC and to the international average.…”