UAE, October 2, 2017- His Excellency Lieutenant General Dhahi Khalfan Tamim, Deputy Chief of Police and Public Security in Dubai and Chairman of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU), stressed on the importance of the adoption of strategic applications that can help serve the objectives set forth in the national agenda of UAE Vision 2021, particularly in the move to develop a high-level educational system that ensures the potential of human capital is invested in innovation and leadership.

This came during the recent participation of a team of academics and administrators on the final day of a retreat covering the development of a strategic plan for the period of 2018-2021, which was held over three days at the Meydan Hotel in Dubai. The plan is based on the vision of paving the way to achieve leadership in the academic field—thereby establishing the HBMSU’s leadership as a key player and an influential force in the global smart education map.

The retreat was moderated by the global expert in the field of e-learning and distance learning, Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd, Chief Innovation Officer of Canada-based distance education and training network Contact North | Contact Nord.

During the retreat, attendees agreed that the strategic proposals supporting the transformation of HBMSU into a major contributor to the restructuring of global education should be adopted according to the foundations of strong creativity and innovation in smart learning, in the service of humanity, while also emphasizing on the need to implement efforts to make innovation the driving force for generating, applying and disseminating knowledge-- in order to reach a world that ensures that ‘education without borders’ is free from the constraints of time and space. At the conclusion of the retreat, a roadmap to development was agreed upon by the participants, which seeks to enable the university to achieve its strategic priorities in providing lifelong learning opportunities and provide a unique and stimulating experience for scientific and intellectual creativity and serious scientific research supporting the national development path through the three pillars of innovation, change and transformation.

H.E. Khalfan Tamim explained that the strategic plan for 2018 - 2021 represents a true complement to the success, achievement and leadership led by HBMSU as a driving force to rebuild the future of learning and education with the continued support of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and President of the university, to achieve HBMSU’s leadership in the restructuring of higher education--helping qualify a generation that is capable of anticipating and shaping the future, in line with the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, who believes that young people are the key drivers for the UAE’s bright future.

H.E stressed that the University is committed towards implementing a strategy that looks towards improving the quality of scientific research, entrepreneurship and innovation—placing emphasis on the enrichment of a knowledge base and advancing progress in the field of smart learning. He also noted the important role that fruitful partnerships with leading national, regional and global names in research and development play in serving the path to development. H.E. also added that the ‘Strategic Plan 2018-2021’ focuses on supporting the UAE Vision 2021, which has made major investments in science, which is at the forefront of the country’s top priorities and serves as the foundation for the progress of nations and the most important investment for future generations. He added: “We are committed to making the university an effective academic institution in the development of a high-quality educational system by 2021, which is further driven by an innovative and effective model that builds on the latest learning methods and standards developed by our team of academics and experts in the fields of knowledge, research and scientific innovation.” 

“The new strategic plan represents an integrated framework for advancing the development of innovative laboratories and academic accelerators, which are a solid foundation for the UAE’s 20x initiative. This aims at placing us ahead of other global universities in the development of teaching methods while also supports our valuable contributions to the ‘Transformational Economy’ model that is based on a holistic way of successfully integrating human wisdom and technological innovation in support of the national efforts to make Dubai the city of the future-- preceding the cities of the world by ten years. We look forward to starting the implementation of our new plan, which we believe will be a strong push towards building a young talent pool of creativity, competitiveness and confidence to support the UAE's approach to transform development based on science, knowledge and innovation,” concluded Tamim.