Her Excellency Dr. Amal Al Qubaisi, Director General of the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) congratulated 142 Emirati university students who have achieved a Grade Point Average (GPA) of 3.6 or above, during an appreciation ceremony held yesterday.
Out of the 142 students, 35 students were Undergraduates who achieved an overall 3.6 GPA once graduated. The rest of the 107 students are existing honor students who managed to maintain a 3.6 GPA or above during the last academic school year.
During her speech addressed to the honor students, Her Excellency said: “I stand proud of each and every single one of you today, for you are and will always be an inspiration to your fellow colleagues and to the nation in general. Today you should be proud of yourselves, for what you have achieved will not be forgotten, and is only part of your fruitful future career paths.”
She added: “As you already know, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi is highly reliant on high caliber individuals such as yourselves, and I look forward to hearing about each of your success stories in the near future.”
Present at the award ceremony was His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development; His Excellency Saeed Eid Al Ghafli, Chairman of Department of Municipal Affairs; His Excellency Ali Rashid Al Ketbi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tawteen Council, and leading UAE educators and dignitaries.
“We appreciate the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s efforts in recognizing our top performing Emirati students, who are offered excellent scholarship opportunities that will help lay the foundation for them to develop further. Tawteen is committed to providing sustainable job opportunities to help support the UAE’s rapid growing economy, while competing globally with developed face-paced economies. The UAE is heavily reliant on its nationals and we look forward to supporting those who are dedicated to contributing to its success,” said Mr. Al Ketbi.
In efforts to encourage high-achieving students to excel further in their education and be fitted in globally competitive jobs in the near future, ADEC has implemented the scholarship program since 2008, and has ever since awarded its top performing students each year. These students also receive a yearly allowance and a basic salary.
Some of the universities the students were or are enrolled in include: United Arab Emirates University; Zayed University, Higher Colleges of Technology; New York University Abu Dhabi; MIT; Drexel University; Florida Institute of Technology; Iowa State University; Michigan State University; Stanford University and many more.
“The aim of offering our youth a scholarship program is to support human capital development in alignment with the social and economic goals of the Emirates. Our future generation is expected to take part in a highly competitive knowledge based economy as per Abu Dhabi 2030 vision,” said her Excellency, adding that the young Emiratis will be expected to keep up with international standards in their upcoming career paths.
“I am confident that each and every single one of you is skilled and reliable, and you are ready to meet the needs of the employment market in the future. As the UAE expands so will your opportunities, however as you already know, this requires a well-educated and qualified caliber of Emirati workforce, and that is the key to our nations sustainable success,” said Dr. Al Qubaisi.
Ms. Mona Majed Al Mansouri, Division Manager of Guidance and Scholarships at ADEC explained that students are offered high-quality educational opportunities across some of the best universities in the UAE and the world. Upon graduation, ADEC collaborates with a number of public employers for recruitment of scholars.
“The scholarship programme is currently offering various types of Engineering disciplines including electrical, chemical and mechanical, as well as medicine, health sciences, accounting, economics and education. There are plans to offer further disciplines with other government entities,” said Ms. Al Mansouri.
Since its initiation in 2008, the goal of ADEC’s Scholarship Program in higher education was to lay the foundation for an Innovation-based, knowledge producing society by elevating the quality of Higher Education to international standards through partnerships with world-class universities, high licensing and accreditation standards, requirements and incentives for continuous improvement; promote and incentivising innovation, scholarship and discovery through major research funding in areas of strategic importance to Abu Dhabi, thereby building a strong community of scientists and scholars; and align Higher Education with labor market and socio-economic needs, guided by the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 and Abu Dhabi’s Policy Agenda.
-ADEC
