Global Development

Formative Years – Balancing Quality with Demand (1988-1994)

As it's first and foremost priority, the leadership of the HCT focused its early efforts on establishing a reputation for program quality. While enrollment levels, the diversity of offerings and the cost per student were elemental

considerations, it was the quality of the learning experience that was paramount. It was this pursuit of excellence in the program and the graduate that became the driving force for development and change. Therefore, in the early years, admission was highly selective and no efforts were spared in ensuring these select groups of students had access to world-class resources and top caliber faculty. Excellent learning resources, equipment and facilities were all made available. These were totally free of cost for the students.
Such investments were made in order to emphasize the importance the government placed on technical graduates from vocational streams and to attract some of the top secondary school graduates to the HCT and away from traditional universities. Emphasis on the quality of its graduates was vital as the acceptance of these graduates by the employers as preferred recruits was the goal.
The selective intake enrollment ensured that early adjustments to the curriculum, assessment and management processes of this fledgling institution would not be impacted adversely with a large number of students. This also allowed this young institution sufficient time to evolve into a unique system of technical colleges that would meet the unique environmental requirements of the UAE.
A major early adjustment was the introduction of a Foundation year to prepare the public secondary school graduates who came from schools where Arabic was the primary medium of instruction, to the HCT where English was the only medium of instruction. This Foundation year armed the students with requisite general education and active learning skills before they commenced into career programs for a further 3 years, after which, if successful in their studies, they would graduate with a Higher National Diploma.
In the beginning, the HCT chose to follow the model - curriculum, human resources, academic policies - of the Ontario Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATS). However, during the first year of operation, it became apparent that the HCT would be wise to also integrate and incorporate best practices of other world-class postsecondary systems for several reasons:

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  Industry in the region, the ultimate stakeholder of the HCT, was strongly influenced by several international practices: the Engineering and Accounting industries in the United Arab Emirates typically followed U.S. and U.K. standards and codes. This included the key sectors of energy and construction. Skilled technicians and semi-skilled operators predominantly came from South Asia. There was little Canadian influence on the regional industry.
  

• 
  In terms of recognition of vocational or educational credentials, the British system of Higher National Diplomas and Higher National Certificates was best understood and accepted by many Human Resource managers of major companies.
  

• 
  The system of education in the primary and the secondary schools coupled with their Arabic medium of instruction meant that national school leavers had very different skill levels and learning styles from those who entered North American tertiary educational institutions. Hence, significant transitional programs had to be designed before any western-designed curriculum could be effectively delivered.
  

These forces led to geographic hiring adjustments mandated by the leadership that affected faculty and academic manager recruitment. This new outreach would give a balanced mix of professionals from the U.K., the U.S., Canada and Australia as well as some with educational or industrial experience in the region. This mix of international best-of-breed faculty teams then began to refine the original curriculum in close consultation with relevant Program Advisory Committees, made up of representatives from major local employers.

Some of the early feedback from the employers with respect to graduate attitudes and intellectual skills helped shaped HCT policies toward attendance, punctuality and student conduct. Work placement as a program component, system-wide common assessments, and international language proficiency tests such as IELTS became major directives for future practice. It is also of note that the UAE Civil Service regulations and practices of employer screening had an impact on switching to the letter grades of A, B, C, F, from the pass/fail grading system originally employed by Educansult.
By 1993-1994, thanks to strategic appointments at executive levels to lead the new colleges and support structure, a unique academic system of higher education was fast evolving at the HCT. The leadership sought to balance the increasing demand for new campuses throughout the country caused by the increasing demand for admission with the introduction of centrally monitored checks and balances using a strong Quality Assurance/Quality Control unit at the centre. To that end, Academic Central Services (ACS) was established, along with streamlined administrative processes utilizing central committees under the leadership of the system Vice Chancellor.

Designing Programs: Locally Relevant & Internationally Benchmarked

Right from the outset, the mission of the HCT mandated the curriculum leaders to design and continually refine programs with two primary objectives:

1. 
   The programs had to be relevant to the needs of the local industry so that HCT graduates would be effectively employed at entry-level technical jobs with minimal need for retraining.
   

2. 
   The program outcomes had to be benchmarked and I or accredited by relevant international institutions for quality assurance purposes as well as for effective articulation paths for HCT graduates who may wish to pursue graduate programs overseas.
   

Every program cluster offered in each college of the HCT was expected to have a Program Advisory Committee (PAC) comprised of relevant professional managers from potential local employers. The PACs were to review curriculum, suggest changes, and advise on new career program opportunities and foster increasing interaction between the HCT's staff and students and the relevant professional community within the UAE. This active interaction and the importance given to PAC feedback in program design and suggested changes helped ensure that the HCT continued to meet its first objective of producing graduates with skill sets that were locally relevant and sought after by the employers.

International Benchmarking and Accreditation were encouraged at three levels:

1. 
   Specific programs sought relevant professional accreditation where possible for international benchmarking. For example, all Higher Diploma and Bachelor of Applied Science programs offered by the Business division were accredited by ACBSB. Higher Diploma programs in Engineering were benchmarked by ABET (TAC) and those in lnformation Technology programs were accredited by Edexcel for several years.
   

2. 
   The HCT have made significant strides in their endeavors towards institutional accreditation to ensure quality of its overall management, administrative, HR and program delivery processes. The HCT is now going through candidature process with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) in the US.
   

3. 
   An internal quality assurance and audit process has been in place since 1998, starting primarily as a Program Quality Assurance process. This PQA system is explained in detail later.