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ogressive nation. The extremely rapid development seen over a short span of time indicates to the high amount of potential present in the country. It attaches a lot of importance to education and has taken aggressive steps towards the same. There are many reasons why this is a positive and effective move.

In the early 2000’s the Middle East suffered from a shortage of higher education institutes of an international quality. Also the academic institutes present did not offer a great variety of courses and had limited R&D. This was adversely affecting UAE long term strategy on being a knowledge driven economy. These drawbacks were resulting in most students travelling abroad in search of a quality education thereby creating a deficit in the nation’s skilled work force. The 2003 published, second Arab Human Development Report pointed out that many institutes in the UAE were under-funded and were administered by under-paid faculty. It was concluded that the potential education industry of the UAE could be rectified with heavy government investments, a strong linkage between academic courses and the labour market and the realisation that knowledge acquisition is vital in the development of the economy and society.

In light of the Arab Human Development Report, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation was set up in May 2007, with a personal endowment of $10 billion by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), which was set up in 2006, is tasked with improving Dubai’s educational knowledge and human development segments according to the utmost international standards, and to guide Dubai to a knowledge-based economy.

Driven by its commitment to continuously provide its future generations the best in class student education, the UAE Ministry of Education has developed a student centric 2010 – 2020 strategy. It follows months of in-depth studies, global best-in-class practices’ review and public consultations.

Higher and business education has seen greater collaboration between western and Dubai based entities. Some of the top universities in Dubai offering degrees and courses include Harvard Medical School Dubai Center, London Business School, Michigan State University, University of Strathclyde, Manchester Business School, Duke's Fuqua School of Business and School, among others.

2.1.1 DUBAI KNOWLEDGE VILLAGE

KV was launched in 2003, in order to provide a regional meeting point between Middle Eastern students and global education. It attracted many quality international institutes to UAE, as they were provided with facilities in an educational free zone and had 100% ownership.

By drawing in many long established international academic institutes, Dubai Knowledge Village seeked to retain regional talent which may have previously considered studying overseas. By preventing brain drain and offering programmes closely connected to the regional business community, KV provides an ongoing pool of knowledge graduates to accelerate the region’s transition into a knowledge society. In addition, Dubai Knowledge Village aims to become an incubator for R&D and seeks to provide the right environment to drive new regional science and technological innovation and entrepreneurial expertise.