At the beginning of the current academic year, the UAE Ministry of Education (MoE) launched the first of its kind Dual Credit Program, which enables students studying in the public education system to cover university hours that will be credited to them when they join the university stage. The program is a step that reflects the UAE's strategies, National Agenda and Centennial, which devoted a large space to the future of education in the UAE and the high quality of its outputs. This program is truly considered as a step in and for the future.

As many as 500 students enrolled in the program and the MoE did its utmost to provide all the academic support they needed to join the program under the supervision of a group of experts and specialists in the MoE and the universities participating in the program. The students achieved honorable results in all the subjects and courses they joined and even competed with university students. This proves that our students are able to substantially benefit from the various features of the program and move on to a new style of education that shortens the duration of the university stage and meets the needs of the labor market for qualified and competent Emirati employees.

The Dual Credit Program is an educational vision that simulates future orientations and reduces the time frame necessary to find a university graduate who possesses the skills of his time. Students joining the program will be able to pass the university stage within three years or less and this will have direct implications in the near future on national files of top priority believed to be essential for the UAE to preserve its achievements and carry on its journey as a global leader. This means a fundamental change in the concept and quality of the UAE education coupled with a parallel change in all the dimentions of the UAE society.

The MoE was keen on translating the UAE's future orientations and reflecting them on its various educational programs in line with the UAE's short-term and long-term plans. This was done in accordance with considerations that take into account the quality of the educational output in the UAE education system and anticipate the future of education with its various orientations and as well as the resultant skills acquired by the students and how far they meet the needs of labor markets inside and outside the UAE. 

The future is owned by those who strive to make and imagine it. This is stressed by the MoE in all the aspects of educational work because we believe that students are not only the shadow of our country in the future but are its tools and makers of its leading position as well. 

By H.E. Dr. Hamad Al Yahyaei

AUS - Curriculum & Assessment Sector-Ministry of Education