of Education, it is responsible for and in charge of promoting
educational excellence across diverse institutions of higher
education in UAE. This is done through licensure of the all
post-secondary educational institutions and accreditation of
individual programs in those institutions. CAA strives to
assure high-quality education, consistent with higher education international standards. The goals of the CAA are as
follows (FCSA, 2019):
1. Ensuring the quality and academic standards: CAA
maintains and implements a quality framework which
assures that institutions of higher education operate in
line with international academic, administrative, managerial, and operational standards.
2. Diversifying services: CAA offers a broad range of
suitable services and activities that further enhances
quality.
3. Ensuring an effective operation: CAA delivers an efficient and effective quality enhancing process to help
developing the higher education sector.
4. International profile: CAA plays an active, cooperative,
and influential role in the international community of
quality assurance organizations for higher education.
To achieve the goals mentioned above, the CAA conducts a program of licensure for institutions of higher education and accreditation for each of the academic programs
provided by those institutions in UAE. Moreover, the CAA
published in 2011 has a new refined edition of Licensure and
Accreditation standards to ensure that all existing and newly
established institutions and programs meet high levels of
quality. This edition consists of (11) standards that provide
measures of quality that all institutions in UAE must meet in
order to obtain the necessary licensure and accreditation of
the programs offered by these institution and reflect a consensus within the international higher education community
on the essential characteristics that are mandatorily required
for the higher education institutions to achieve continuous
improvement.
4.3 Adult Education
Since the foundation of UAE in 1971, the country mandated
a vision of building a knowledge-based economy comprised
of skilled and professional citizens who can help in realizing
the nation’s forward vision. Considering that only 48% of
UAE adults were literate at the date of foundation, and
therefore in parallel with general and technical education,
adult education is offered free to those who do not have the
education and are willing to gain the opportunity to start and
gain another opportunity for education. Adult education
consists of three stages which are: Elementary stage (Circle
one) of total 4 years, Elementary stage (Circle two) of total
3 years and Secondary stage (3 years). The government
established and operated many centers for adult education
and teaching; as a result nowadays the literate rate has
increased over 93%.
4.4 Trends in Education in UAE
The total number of higher education institutions in UAE
reached about (94) institutions offering first and second
degrees in (967) programs according to the figures of UAE’s
Commission for Academic Accreditation; in 2016 this
number decreased to 87 entities. The number of higher
education entities varies from year to year depending on the
fulfillment of the accreditation measures.
The total number of universities was 38 in 2016 and
decreased to 32. The total number of private universities is
29 in 2017, three of these universities are public and this
number is constant over the period 2011–2017, while the
rest are private universities. However, the number of colleges varies and reached 48 in 2016 and decreased to 42 in
2018; out of them, five are public colleges and the rest are
private colleges. Institutes are 13 in 2017. The variation may
be is a result of confusing in definition between college and
institute as the number of universities is almost constant.
The total number of enrolling students in the higher
education in 2017 was about 174.9 thousand students—53.8
of them are non-national students. The students in the public
universities are around 46.6 thousand—7.5% of them are
enrolled in public universities while the student enrolled in
private universities are about 128.3 thousand—70.7% of
them are non-national. The total enrolled students in the
higher education system almost doubled during the last six
years; most of the increase is coming from the increase in the
number of students enrolled in the private universities (by
83.5%), while the number of students in the public universities has increased by only 16.8% (see Fig. 1).
The enrolled students are distributed among different
academic programs; the main program is the Business
Administration (30.1%), Engineering (18.5%), Law &
Sharia (12.5%), Mass Communication (8%), Humanities &
Social Sciences (7%), Environment & Health Sciences
(5.3%), Medical Sciences (4.8%), Information Technology
(3.8), Education (3.3%) and Foundation (3.2%) and Arts &
Design (2.5%).
5 Results of the Regression Analysis
It is obvious that the simultaneous approach is different from
the single model equations in which the simultaneous
approach measures the mutual impact of the variables in the
274
A. M. Haddad
educational excellence across diverse institutions of higher
education in UAE. This is done through licensure of the all
post-secondary educational institutions and accreditation of
individual programs in those institutions. CAA strives to
assure high-quality education, consistent with higher education international standards. The goals of the CAA are as
follows (FCSA, 2019):
1. Ensuring the quality and academic standards: CAA
maintains and implements a quality framework which
assures that institutions of higher education operate in
line with international academic, administrative, managerial, and operational standards.
2. Diversifying services: CAA offers a broad range of
suitable services and activities that further enhances
quality.
3. Ensuring an effective operation: CAA delivers an efficient and effective quality enhancing process to help
developing the higher education sector.
4. International profile: CAA plays an active, cooperative,
and influential role in the international community of
quality assurance organizations for higher education.
To achieve the goals mentioned above, the CAA conducts a program of licensure for institutions of higher education and accreditation for each of the academic programs
provided by those institutions in UAE. Moreover, the CAA
published in 2011 has a new refined edition of Licensure and
Accreditation standards to ensure that all existing and newly
established institutions and programs meet high levels of
quality. This edition consists of (11) standards that provide
measures of quality that all institutions in UAE must meet in
order to obtain the necessary licensure and accreditation of
the programs offered by these institution and reflect a consensus within the international higher education community
on the essential characteristics that are mandatorily required
for the higher education institutions to achieve continuous
improvement.
4.3 Adult Education
Since the foundation of UAE in 1971, the country mandated
a vision of building a knowledge-based economy comprised
of skilled and professional citizens who can help in realizing
the nation’s forward vision. Considering that only 48% of
UAE adults were literate at the date of foundation, and
therefore in parallel with general and technical education,
adult education is offered free to those who do not have the
education and are willing to gain the opportunity to start and
gain another opportunity for education. Adult education
consists of three stages which are: Elementary stage (Circle
one) of total 4 years, Elementary stage (Circle two) of total
3 years and Secondary stage (3 years). The government
established and operated many centers for adult education
and teaching; as a result nowadays the literate rate has
increased over 93%.
4.4 Trends in Education in UAE
The total number of higher education institutions in UAE
reached about (94) institutions offering first and second
degrees in (967) programs according to the figures of UAE’s
Commission for Academic Accreditation; in 2016 this
number decreased to 87 entities. The number of higher
education entities varies from year to year depending on the
fulfillment of the accreditation measures.
The total number of universities was 38 in 2016 and
decreased to 32. The total number of private universities is
29 in 2017, three of these universities are public and this
number is constant over the period 2011–2017, while the
rest are private universities. However, the number of colleges varies and reached 48 in 2016 and decreased to 42 in
2018; out of them, five are public colleges and the rest are
private colleges. Institutes are 13 in 2017. The variation may
be is a result of confusing in definition between college and
institute as the number of universities is almost constant.
The total number of enrolling students in the higher
education in 2017 was about 174.9 thousand students—53.8
of them are non-national students. The students in the public
universities are around 46.6 thousand—7.5% of them are
enrolled in public universities while the student enrolled in
private universities are about 128.3 thousand—70.7% of
them are non-national. The total enrolled students in the
higher education system almost doubled during the last six
years; most of the increase is coming from the increase in the
number of students enrolled in the private universities (by
83.5%), while the number of students in the public universities has increased by only 16.8% (see Fig. 1).
The enrolled students are distributed among different
academic programs; the main program is the Business
Administration (30.1%), Engineering (18.5%), Law &
Sharia (12.5%), Mass Communication (8%), Humanities &
Social Sciences (7%), Environment & Health Sciences
(5.3%), Medical Sciences (4.8%), Information Technology
(3.8), Education (3.3%) and Foundation (3.2%) and Arts &
Design (2.5%).
5 Results of the Regression Analysis
It is obvious that the simultaneous approach is different from
the single model equations in which the simultaneous
approach measures the mutual impact of the variables in the
274
A. M. Haddad