Dubai Knowledge Village and creating a knowledge economy in the United Arab Emirates Ali Ibrahim United Arab Emirates University

Development of Dubai Hubs:  Transportation  Business  Tourism  ICT  Finance Strategies:  Free Zones  Clusters

Why the Knowledge Village?  UNDP 2003 report – knowledge society  Education in the Arab world  Brain drain  September 11 – study abroad  Tuitions & cost of living  Culture (female students)

Dubai Knowledge Village (2003)  A meeting-point of three continents  Incentives: 1. World class amenities and services, 2. Complete foreign ownership, 3. Total exemption from taxes, 4. Full repatriation of capital and profits, and 5. Smooth incorporation and visa issuance procedures  Institutions:  Training and development centers  HR management and consultancy services  Education providers (universities and institutes)

Dubai Knowledge Village (cont.)  15 international universities (within one year)  Programs: create a new culture of online learning and exploit new technologies to disseminate knowledge  Criteria:  Highly ranked  Branch campus (syllabi, teaching methods, degrees, and accreditation must be identical to the parent campus)  Market-oriented fields: IT training, MBAs, Engineering, Media, Medicine, Accountancy

Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) (2007)  International higher education  30 campuses from 13 countries (2010)  Students share housing and recreational facilities  MBA, MMC, CIT, Eng.  Fashion, health, tourism, education, and environmental studies  15,000 students (2010)  40,000 (2015)  40 institutions (2015)

Concluding remarks First:  Lack of rigorous research  Effectiveness  Creators, users, and/or disseminators Second:  Market demands  Science, Medicine, Research not emphasized, not likely to be  Continue to rely on imported professionals

Third: Knowledge & Economy  Knowledge economy:  Production of knowledge  Knowledge-based economy:  Consumption of knowledge (tool for economic benefit)