Information Technology and the Future of Education in the United Arab Emirates

More often than not, the driving force behind a country's formal education system is to enable individuals to become more intellectually and economically productive, and therefore contribute to the cultural and financial wealth of the individual and subsequently the state as a whole. Furthermore, education also serves as a means to promote and foster innovative thinking skills, which lend themselves to creative problem solving, critical analysis ability and quite often greater entrepreneurial skills. More recently with technological advances and greater automation of traditional industries, the need for large workforces has significantly diminished. The rise in digital technologies, coupled with initiatives towards globalized trade policies in both the private and public sector, has affected the development of the industrial landscape. This in turn has had an impact on the skills required by the labor force, the types of jobs that are available, and how industry is likely to change in the future. The UAE has taken concerted steps in order to ensure economic diversification of its key sectors as a means to ensure it is not entirely dependent on an oil/petroleum-based economy. Underpinning this diversification has been the commitment to the creation of a competitive knowledge-based economy, which, unlike agricultural and industrial economies, is not one that relies on natural/physical resources, but instead a greater reliance on intellectual capabilities. All these requirements are dependent upon an effective education system.