the United Nation Development Program (UNDP) since
1990 to highlight that people and their capabilities should be
the ultimate criteria for assessing and evaluating the development of any countrynot only the economic growth, which
is used in most of the previous studies. The HDI is a measure
which captured, in addition, the income, poverty, literacy,
education, average life expectancy and other indicators of
the countries (UNDP, 2016). HDI is composed of life quality
measured by both life expectancy index (LEI), and life
expectancy at birth (in years); education index (EI) which is
measured by mean years of schooling (in years), expected
years of schooling (in years), and finally the Income Index
(II) which is measured by Per capita income measured by
Purchasing power parity (PPP $).
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation state
of seven autonomous Emirates found in 1971, located on the
western part of Asia, on the southeast end of the Arabian
Peninsula of the Gulf, with an area of 83.6 thousand square
kilometers, and total population of around ten million in
2018. According to federation constitution of UAE, each
emirate is governed by a ruler handling all authorities that
are not mentioned by the Constitution with exception of the
foreign affairs, defense, security and social services, and
adopt a common immigration policy (Haddad, 2018).
Although the UAE is the third regional and eighth world
largest oil producer, it implements successful efforts at
economic diversification in order to decrease dependence on
oil and gas and their products. In this regard, UAE maintains
a free-market economy, in addition of that, UAE is one of
the most politically stable and secure country in the region,
plus it is a strategically geographic location; all these give
and ensure the country robust competitive edge as the
region’s premier commercial hub and second largest economy. In addition to that, the leadership of the UAE considers
education as one of the highest priorities of UAE and the
vehicle for development and knowledge economy. Quoted
from His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the
founder of the UAE, his famous saying is “The greatest use
that can be made of wealth is to invest it in creating generations of educated and trained people”. To facilitate the
entrance of private universities and other international universities and be a center of higher education in the region,
UAE established universities special zones and encouraged
the investment in education. As a result, there is sharp
increase in private and public investment in education at all
levels of education, so that UAE is the residence of more
than 33 private universities and higher education institutions
besides those owned by the public sector (Ministry of
Education, 2018; FCSA, 2019).
Therefore, this study represents an attempt to investigate
the impact of education on sustainable development
measured by HDI as a proxy of sustainable development and
education, using data from one of the strongest economies in
the world that is UAE.
2 Review of Literature
Odit, Dookhan, and Fauzel (2010) analyze the investment
impacts of education on economic growth in case of Mauritius, and to investigate the extent of education level of the
Mauritian labor force that affects the economic growth,
which is the output level of labor. The study finds that
human capital plays significant role in economic growth
largely as an engine for improvement of the output level of
labor. There is compelling evidence that human capital
increases productivity, and proposed that education enhance
productivity rather than just a mechanism used by individuals as an indicator of their level of capability to the
employer.
Pritchett (2001) argued that poor institutions and policies
enclose vulnerable growth in many of the least developed
economies in the world, directing skilled labor into somewhat unproductive activities; for this reason interrupts the
relationship between education and growth in the studied
countries, which include less-developed economies. The
results of the study confirm that human capital and indigenous innovation impacts are tremendously important to the
economic growth in Portugal, particularly, the indirect effect
of human capital throughout innovation emerges as critical,
showing that a reasonably high human capital stock is necessary to enable a state to harvest and obtain the benefits of
its indigenous innovation efforts. The results of Teixeira and
Fortuna (2004) also emphasize that human capital and
indigenous innovation efforts that are of great importance to
the process of economic growth in Portuguese during 1960–
2001.
Based on previous literature, Kotásková et al. (2018)
established a unique insight along with new evidence about
the relationship between education and economic growth in
India during 1975–2016, focusing on primary, secondary,
and tertiary levels of education. The research argues that
education plays a fundamental and significant role in economic growth in India. Accordingly, other countries can
utilize the case of India as an example for development. The
results provide compelling evidence that confirm the positive
relationship between education and economic growth in
India. This evidence perhaps influences governmental
actions and forms the future in India.
Pribac and Anghelina (2015) constructed a conceptual
research model based on the economic increase models that
explain the approach in which the revenue per resident is
270
A. M. Haddad
1990 to highlight that people and their capabilities should be
the ultimate criteria for assessing and evaluating the development of any countrynot only the economic growth, which
is used in most of the previous studies. The HDI is a measure
which captured, in addition, the income, poverty, literacy,
education, average life expectancy and other indicators of
the countries (UNDP, 2016). HDI is composed of life quality
measured by both life expectancy index (LEI), and life
expectancy at birth (in years); education index (EI) which is
measured by mean years of schooling (in years), expected
years of schooling (in years), and finally the Income Index
(II) which is measured by Per capita income measured by
Purchasing power parity (PPP $).
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federation state
of seven autonomous Emirates found in 1971, located on the
western part of Asia, on the southeast end of the Arabian
Peninsula of the Gulf, with an area of 83.6 thousand square
kilometers, and total population of around ten million in
2018. According to federation constitution of UAE, each
emirate is governed by a ruler handling all authorities that
are not mentioned by the Constitution with exception of the
foreign affairs, defense, security and social services, and
adopt a common immigration policy (Haddad, 2018).
Although the UAE is the third regional and eighth world
largest oil producer, it implements successful efforts at
economic diversification in order to decrease dependence on
oil and gas and their products. In this regard, UAE maintains
a free-market economy, in addition of that, UAE is one of
the most politically stable and secure country in the region,
plus it is a strategically geographic location; all these give
and ensure the country robust competitive edge as the
region’s premier commercial hub and second largest economy. In addition to that, the leadership of the UAE considers
education as one of the highest priorities of UAE and the
vehicle for development and knowledge economy. Quoted
from His Highness Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the
founder of the UAE, his famous saying is “The greatest use
that can be made of wealth is to invest it in creating generations of educated and trained people”. To facilitate the
entrance of private universities and other international universities and be a center of higher education in the region,
UAE established universities special zones and encouraged
the investment in education. As a result, there is sharp
increase in private and public investment in education at all
levels of education, so that UAE is the residence of more
than 33 private universities and higher education institutions
besides those owned by the public sector (Ministry of
Education, 2018; FCSA, 2019).
Therefore, this study represents an attempt to investigate
the impact of education on sustainable development
measured by HDI as a proxy of sustainable development and
education, using data from one of the strongest economies in
the world that is UAE.
2 Review of Literature
Odit, Dookhan, and Fauzel (2010) analyze the investment
impacts of education on economic growth in case of Mauritius, and to investigate the extent of education level of the
Mauritian labor force that affects the economic growth,
which is the output level of labor. The study finds that
human capital plays significant role in economic growth
largely as an engine for improvement of the output level of
labor. There is compelling evidence that human capital
increases productivity, and proposed that education enhance
productivity rather than just a mechanism used by individuals as an indicator of their level of capability to the
employer.
Pritchett (2001) argued that poor institutions and policies
enclose vulnerable growth in many of the least developed
economies in the world, directing skilled labor into somewhat unproductive activities; for this reason interrupts the
relationship between education and growth in the studied
countries, which include less-developed economies. The
results of the study confirm that human capital and indigenous innovation impacts are tremendously important to the
economic growth in Portugal, particularly, the indirect effect
of human capital throughout innovation emerges as critical,
showing that a reasonably high human capital stock is necessary to enable a state to harvest and obtain the benefits of
its indigenous innovation efforts. The results of Teixeira and
Fortuna (2004) also emphasize that human capital and
indigenous innovation efforts that are of great importance to
the process of economic growth in Portuguese during 1960–
2001.
Based on previous literature, Kotásková et al. (2018)
established a unique insight along with new evidence about
the relationship between education and economic growth in
India during 1975–2016, focusing on primary, secondary,
and tertiary levels of education. The research argues that
education plays a fundamental and significant role in economic growth in India. Accordingly, other countries can
utilize the case of India as an example for development. The
results provide compelling evidence that confirm the positive
relationship between education and economic growth in
India. This evidence perhaps influences governmental
actions and forms the future in India.
Pribac and Anghelina (2015) constructed a conceptual
research model based on the economic increase models that
explain the approach in which the revenue per resident is
270
A. M. Haddad