Excellence in Higher Education 105
Earlier this year, all undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at HWUD secured initial accreditation from the UAE Ministry of Higher Education. What does this mean for families comparing options in Dubai? Vanessa: We went through two and a half to three years of going through the accreditation. I lived and breathed it for quite some time with a big group of colleagues. We had to look at every single course within a programme. We originally started with 90-plus programmes. We now have 72 that are all accredited. As we’ve gone through the accreditation process, there were many ways in which this is of value to students. Firstly, it helps us with research. A CAA-approved university has more access to research and more partnerships across the UAE, the MENA and the Gulf region. However, it also helps to ensure that students understand that when they receive their degree, it isn’t just a degree that says 'Heriot- Watt' - it is a Heriot-Watt degree that can be taken overseas or back to their home countries with confidence, knowing MOHRE and the CAA have approved it. Many families in Dubai value international exposure. How does the Go Global programme work? Vanessa: We currently have about 250 to 300 students a year on the Go Global programme. They can move between Edinburgh to Dubai, Dubai to Malaysia, Malaysia to Edinburgh. About 40 students come here to Dubai, and Edinburgh probably sees 150 to 200 a year that go through. Students can decide in their first semester that they want to go for just one semester. They can decide to go for the whole year or make a permanent transfer. In theory, as long as the programme runs across our three campuses, they can do a year in Edinburgh, a year in Dubai, and a year in Malaysia. It’s a seamless transition because everything taught in other campuses is also taught here. The global teaching team develops the course materials. So students can be confident that wherever they are, it’s the same education.
And we’re in Dubai. Students and parents do expect a certain level and quality of the building and the atmosphere in which the kids are being taught. And I think that when you walk through the doors here, I personally feel at home. I don’t want to work in a different environment. This is where I want to be. And I’m sure that’s the same kind of feeling that prospective students get with their parents as they walk through. It’s not just a beautiful building. It’s an extremely well- considered building. It’s high quality and it’s looking forward to the future to make sure that students can grow within this building.
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