Lord Brittan, British Prime Minister Adviser, has delivered a speech at the Learning & Leadership Conference
, organized by Middle East Association, exploring education opportunities in the Middle East.
Global Arab Network publishes extracts from Lord Brittan Speech at the MEA Conference as follows:
· The Trade & Investment White Paper launched this month reaffirms the Government’s commitment to develop further our commercial relationship with the region. Education and skills development is at the heart of our relationship and vital for the future success of the Middle East’s fast-growing populations and diversifying economies. The UK has real expertise and experience to share in this regard, but there is enormous potential for stronger collaboration.
· Strengthening these ties is a key focus of this week’s visit by the Prime Minister and our new Trade Minister Lord Green to the MENA region. A delegation of over 30 leading UK companies and institutions is accompanying them. For my part I would like briefly to share my thoughts on UK’s trade relationship with the Middle East and the important part education and training are playing.
Bilateral trade with the Middle East
· The UK’s business relationship with the Middle East is historically strong and has been growing. In 2009, the Gulf was the UK’s seventh largest export market globally – on a par with China and India combined - with exports of around £15 billion. Our trade in goods with the Middle East rose by around a third last year.
· But we are facing increasing competition from both established and emerging markets. To meet it we need to understand the significant developments in each region, and reflect our understanding in all aspects of our relationship.
Education opportunities in the Middle East
· To the Arab world it is clear that modernisation and expansion of education systems and infrastructure are a key priority.
· The Governments concerned are investing a considerable proportion of their oil and gas wealth in these areas.
· A quarter of Saudi Arabia’s $144 billion budget last year was dedicated to education, training and manpower. 3,000 new schools and over 100 new VET [Note – pronounced as spelt] institutions are planned. They will require support on the design, building, equipping and management of new schools and institutions; curriculum design; and development of the teaching cadre.
· The UAE has allocated 22% of its current budget to education; Kuwait is investing $8 billion annually in education; Qatar is well on the way to creating a regional education and research hub through its Education City.
· But there are emerging gaps. Oman’s provision of higher education is unable to accommodate the large number of school leavers; Bahrain needs to build capacity in the development of qualifications, quality assurance and career guidance. Her Excellency Dr Rawya Saud Al Busaidi and Dr Tayeb Kamali will outline the opportunities and challenges in Oman and the UAE to you in further detail this morning.
· All Gulf States are looking to up-skill their national workforce to become less reliant on foreign workers. This approach must be right: young people need the right skills and experience to make a useful contribution to society, which in turn, will help drive economic growth. UK vocational education and training providers have a real opportunity to help shape these strategies and modernise VET systems.
Examples of education collaboration
· Britain is recognised globally for quality education and skills development. We have set the benchmark on professional standards and international accreditations. The UK has much to offer and is actively supporting the Middle East’s ambitious education aspirations.
· With much of the syllabus delivered in English, the UK has a natural advantage, and our schools and universities have much to gain. Links are growing: Thousands of Middle Eastern students are studying in the UK.
· But it is not just about student recruitment. The UK has a truly diverse international offer which cuts across all areas of education and skills. Many UK companies and institutions are exporting their expertise – areas in demand include teaching and learning resources, educational technology, vocational training and Continuing Professional Development.
· Many UK universities, colleges, schools and education suppliers are establishing a presence across the region and many more are partnering with local institutions.
· For example, a number of top British schools including Repton and Sherborne have already established campuses in the region. UK universities have set up in the UAE. UCL will become the first European University to establish a campus in Qatar. Bangor University is helping to establish a new university in Kuwait that will bring high-quality higher education on the British model to the region.
· Our collaboration is broad-ranging: we are sharing good practice, providing consultancy, delivering degrees, developing and delivering training, designing curriculum, and carrying out joint research.
· For example, the UK has established 40 curriculum based school partnerships in Saudi Arabia, and a network of high performing schools in the Emirates through our Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. A further 45 schools in Lebanon are also partnering with UK schools on joint curriculum projects.
· In Egypt the University of Cambridge has been awarded a 3 year contract to provide internationally recognised English language education and assessment in 3 Universities. In Oman, a consortium of UK universities in partnership with the Ministry of Manpower is training 500 ministry staff to become lecturers.
· Imperial College is involved in a number of research projects in Qatar’s prestigious Science and Technology Park. Edexcel – who are supporting today’s conference - and City and Guilds are
working with Saudi’s technical and vocational education body to ensure its awards meet international standards.
Next steps
· But the UK needs to do more to stay ahead of the competition and be the Middle East’s ‘partner of choice’: for education and training, and research and development.
· We need to build on our achievements to date; push our commercial relationship into new areas; be creative in developing new and stronger partnerships between our firms, institutions and providers.
· We can partner on policy reforms and delivery and stimulate R&D links and technology transfer.
· There are numerous major infrastructure programmes underway across the region. Many relate to education reforms and offer significant supply-chain opportunities for our education and training sector. We can go one step further and offer complete turn-key packages by combining expertise in our construction and education supply industries.
· The importance of education, and the excellence of the UK's education sector and especially its universities, was a repeated theme during the Prime Minister’s visit to the Middle East this week.
· A number of top UK universities accompanied this visit. Ministers are keen for education and skills delegations to continue to accompany their visits to the region.
· UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) are working with industry partners, the British Council and others such as the Arab British Chamber of Commerce and today’s sponsors (the MEA) to encourage further cooperation.
· It was encouraging to see UKTI–supported groups participate in the Building Future Education and BETT MENA Exhibitions in Abu Dhabi in November. Both exhibitions have their origins in the UK and showcased an impressive number of UK education and skills providers.
· In December, UK’s offer across all segments of developing sustainable education facilities was promoted by British Expertise in a series of seminars in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
· Looking ahead, UKTI is working with the British Educational Supplier Association (BESA), to take an education and skills mission later this month to the Levant (Syria, Jordan and Lebanon). The mission will include around 10 UK universities who are keen to explore the potential in these markets and build strategic partnerships with local education providers.
· And in May, UKTI will support the British Group exhibiting at the Gulf Educational Supplier Exhibition in Dubai. This will be a key platform for UK educational supply companies to promote their capabilities and resources to potential customers and partners from across the region.
· So the UK’s commitment to education and training is one we share with our partners across the MENA region. It is high on the agenda of our bilateral trade agreements and related forums. We are looking for these mechanisms to support stronger engagement between our academic and private sectors; to better target opportunities and match these to our strengths.
· This builds on current plans to extend our Science and Innovation network within the Gulf region, the good work of the International Education Advisory Forum, and the business department’s international education programme which has supported the development of 26 higher education partnerships across the Gulf since 2006.
Conclusion
· The opportunities for all concerned are immense. The UK Government is strongly committed to fostering greater commercial engagement, partnerships and opportunities on education with the Middle East. But we want UK business and academia to take the lead. You all have a role to play.
· I encourage you all to share your ideas and experiences on the opportunities and challenges we are facing. I look forward to hearing from the MEA about your thoughts on how we can take this important work forward.
Global Arab Network |
