The Impacts of Education on the Sustainable
Development in United Arab Emirates:
A Simultaneous Equations Approach
Akram Masoud Haddad
Abstract
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an Asian country that
consists of seven emirates. UAE is the eighth largest oil
producer in the world which is the main source used for
development. UAE is a member of the Gulf Cooperation
Countries (GCC) council. UAE is one of the world’s most
open and successful economies. UAE maintains a
free-market economy and is one of the most politically
stable and secure in the region. All together ensures that
UAE has a robust competitive edge since it is the region’s
premier commercial hub and the second largest economy.
In addition, this economic environment encourages the
establishment of private universities and branches of
well-known foreign universities in UAE. In this study, the
impact of education on the sustainable economic development is measured by human development index
(HDI) using simultaneous equations approach of two
equations. The results show that there are more than one
million students enrolled in primary and secondary
schools and more than 60 thousand enrolled in territory
education in more than 561 programs distributed over 70
institutions, around 40% of them are noncitizens. The
regression results show that there are impacts of education
on the sustainable economic development at UAE. These
results emphasize the role of education in creating
sustainable development in UAE, in particular, as well
as the rational policy of the UAE and confirm the results
of other studies.
Keywords
Human development index Á Education Á United
Arab Emirates Á Sustainable development
1 Introduction
The role of education in sustainable development is pronounced by the Target 4.7 of the UNESCO which says “that
by 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and
skills needed to promote sustainable development, including,
among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender
equality, promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence,
global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and
of culture’s contribution to sustainable development” (Shaker, 2015).
In this regard the widely used definition of sustainable
development by most of the authors is given by World
Commission on Environment and Development which
defines it as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs. This necessitates to consider and
protect the environment and natural resources on which its
current and future development depend on. This is achieved
only through the integration and acknowledgement of economic, environmental, and social concerns throughout the
decision-making process” (Blewitt, 2015; Kahle &
Gurel-Atay, 2014; Robert, Parris, & Leiserowitz, 2005).
Incidentally there are two big questions: what to sustain
and what to develop. Under the second question, there are
three major categories that are nature, life support systems,
and community, in addition to intermediate categories for
each. The answer to the second question includes three
things: first is the people which includes child survival, life
expectancy, education equity, equal opportunity, and the
second is the economy which includes wealth, productive
sectors, consumption, and third the society which means
institutions, social capital, states and regions (Kahle &
Gurel-Atay, 2014; Robert et al., 2005).
Therefore, it seems that sustainable development can be
more well represented and measured by human development
index (HDI) which was created and published annually by
A. M. Haddad (&)
American University, Dubai, UAE
e-mail: Dr_akram2@yahoo.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. Mateev and J. Nightingale (eds.), Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility—Volume 1,
Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32922-8_26
269
Development in United Arab Emirates:
A Simultaneous Equations Approach
Akram Masoud Haddad
Abstract
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an Asian country that
consists of seven emirates. UAE is the eighth largest oil
producer in the world which is the main source used for
development. UAE is a member of the Gulf Cooperation
Countries (GCC) council. UAE is one of the world’s most
open and successful economies. UAE maintains a
free-market economy and is one of the most politically
stable and secure in the region. All together ensures that
UAE has a robust competitive edge since it is the region’s
premier commercial hub and the second largest economy.
In addition, this economic environment encourages the
establishment of private universities and branches of
well-known foreign universities in UAE. In this study, the
impact of education on the sustainable economic development is measured by human development index
(HDI) using simultaneous equations approach of two
equations. The results show that there are more than one
million students enrolled in primary and secondary
schools and more than 60 thousand enrolled in territory
education in more than 561 programs distributed over 70
institutions, around 40% of them are noncitizens. The
regression results show that there are impacts of education
on the sustainable economic development at UAE. These
results emphasize the role of education in creating
sustainable development in UAE, in particular, as well
as the rational policy of the UAE and confirm the results
of other studies.
Keywords
Human development index Á Education Á United
Arab Emirates Á Sustainable development
1 Introduction
The role of education in sustainable development is pronounced by the Target 4.7 of the UNESCO which says “that
by 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and
skills needed to promote sustainable development, including,
among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender
equality, promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence,
global citizenship, and appreciation of cultural diversity and
of culture’s contribution to sustainable development” (Shaker, 2015).
In this regard the widely used definition of sustainable
development by most of the authors is given by World
Commission on Environment and Development which
defines it as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations
to meet their own needs. This necessitates to consider and
protect the environment and natural resources on which its
current and future development depend on. This is achieved
only through the integration and acknowledgement of economic, environmental, and social concerns throughout the
decision-making process” (Blewitt, 2015; Kahle &
Gurel-Atay, 2014; Robert, Parris, & Leiserowitz, 2005).
Incidentally there are two big questions: what to sustain
and what to develop. Under the second question, there are
three major categories that are nature, life support systems,
and community, in addition to intermediate categories for
each. The answer to the second question includes three
things: first is the people which includes child survival, life
expectancy, education equity, equal opportunity, and the
second is the economy which includes wealth, productive
sectors, consumption, and third the society which means
institutions, social capital, states and regions (Kahle &
Gurel-Atay, 2014; Robert et al., 2005).
Therefore, it seems that sustainable development can be
more well represented and measured by human development
index (HDI) which was created and published annually by
A. M. Haddad (&)
American University, Dubai, UAE
e-mail: Dr_akram2@yahoo.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
M. Mateev and J. Nightingale (eds.), Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility—Volume 1,
Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32922-8_26
269