Hope you are keeping safe. Kindly see below the latest edition of country updates across the MENA on latest news regarding education in the region.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or require additional information.
Egypt: The new academic year 2020-2021 began on Saturday, 17 October 2020 and will end on Thursday, 24 June 2021.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia has been ranked first among 140 nations for its digital competitiveness as it invests heavily in the technology sector.
Kuwait: The huge increase in the number of Kuwaitis who passed the general secondary exams this year has resulted in 44% increase in external scholarships.
UAE: 83% of students have opted for remote learning in UAE
Visas and Immingration
UK visa services have now resumed across all visa application centres in the Gulf. Appointments are currently limited, the Priority Visa service is only available in UAE and Qatar, and the Super Priority Visa Services is not yet available in any location. Services and appointment availability are being kept under regular review. Our current service standard for all visit and Tier 4 student visas is 15 working days. UKVI is now (temporarily) issuing T4 students with a 90 day vignette to travel and collect their BRP in the UK, instead of the usual 30 day vignette. If due to travel restrictions your 30 day vignette expired before you were able to use it, UKVI will replace this with a new 90 day vignette free of charge.
More information can be found here: https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/en
UAE students can now start university courses before applying for UK study visa
Advice for UK visa applicants:
Advice for Tier 4 students/Short term students
Advice on entering the UK and self-isolation requirements:
https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control
Travel advice
For travel advice, please visit https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice. We encourage institutions who are considering travelling to sign up for alerts. We are also keeping up to date with local government websites for any updates and restrictions, so kindly feel free to contact us if you need any information and we will refer you to the relevant websites.
IELTS
In accordance with local health authority and government guidance, we have resumed IELTS testing across the UAE. The health and safety of test takers and test staff is our number one priority and we have taken the time to put in place all precautionary measures to ensure our customers can test confidently at our test venues.
For more information on measures taken, please visit: https://www.britishcouncil.ae/en/resume-your-ielts-journey-today
Upon registering for IELTS with us, test takers will receive:
Access to Road to IELTS - Our free 30-hour online preparation course with 100 interactive activities and two practice tests for each of the four skills; reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
Access to IELTS Counselling Service – A free service offering advice from an IELTS expert on how to achieve the desired IELTS score and prepare for the IELTS test. This is aimed at helping test takers achieve their desired scores through personalized virtual sessions and is currently available in the UAE - as well as in Saudi Arabia and Egypt. For more information visit https://www.britishcouncil.ae/en/exam/ielts/prepare/counselling-service
Access to our brand new IELTS for UKVI preparation materials, GEL IELTS Prep – These resources include personalised, smart support that works with you and your learning needs to help you reach your required IELTS for UKVI score, mock tests and practice course for all four skills.
For information on test availability please visit: https://www.britishcouncil.ae/en/exam/ielts/dates-locations
For more MENA updates, webinars, market insights and other IES services, please go to your alerts settings and select updates from MENA. If you have any feedback or require any additional information, please contact me on dina.kanan@ae.britishcouncil.org
Thank you and stay safe
Dina Kanan
UAE Manager, International Education Services
EGYPT:
Schools new academic year
Dr. Tariq Shawqi, Minister of Education, announced the features of the new academic year, which came as follows:
The new academic year 2021/2020 in schools begins on October 17, 2020, and studies in international schools begin on September 15, 2020
Working to reduce density by redistributing quotas and multiplication of learning sources without affecting the academic content that is supposed to be acquired by the end of the school year
The Minister of Education explained the ministry’s plan to students attendance, and it came as follows:
Grades from KG1 – primary 3, attendance in "single shift schools" will be 4 days a week, and for "double shift schools" attendance will be 3 days a week, and the final schedule for student attendance will be determined at the school level.
Grades from the fourth to sixth grades .. Attendance in "one-shift schools" will be two days a week, and for "two-shift schools," attendance will be 3 days a week, and the final schedule for student attendance will be determined at the school level.
Middle & secondary schools .. Attendance will be two days a week, and the final schedule for student attendance will be determined at the school level.
The Ministry’s plan to make learning resources available in the new academic year, and it is as follows
Grades up to the third primary .. The new system 2.0 interdisciplinary curriculum will be taught in the school
Grades from the fourth primary to the third preparatory .. Explanation of all the prescribed curricula will be made available through several educational aids for students, such as: “The live broadcast platform for virtual classes, the electronic platform, the Edmodo platform. Several methods will also be provided for the preparatory certificate, which are:“ e-books, and a program Ask the teacher, the e-lessons library. "
The first to the third grade of secondary school .. no books will be printed for students, and all books and educational materials will be made available on the tablet (about 1.8 million tablets have been provided), A number of basic educational aids and many auxiliary tools will be made available such as: “educational TV channels, a live broadcast platform for virtual classes, an electronic library and an e-lessons library, an“ ask the teacher ”program, and electronic interactive books.
Dr. Tariq Shawky, Minister of Education, announced the form of evaluation in the secondary school year 2021, and it is as follows:
There will be an electronic exam and it will be corrected electronically using the new assessment system.
4 different exam forms will be designed by establishing question banks to present different exam forms with the same degree of difficulty in controlling cheating.
Students will be given an opportunity to take an additional exam, provided that the higher score is calculated (an exam in June and another opportunity for improvement in August).
Universities
The Ministry of Higher Education also confirmed the 17th October as a beginning of the new academic year with same approach of blending learning.
Contact Information
For more information about Egypt, please contact Sahar Khamis, Head of Education Programmes, Egypt Sahar.khamis@britishcouncil.org.eg
KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia tops G20 digital competitiveness rankings
Saudi Arabia has been ranked first among 140 nations for its digital competitiveness as it invests heavily in the technology sector.
The Kingdom beat France, Indonesia and China to claim top spot among the G20 member states covered by the World Competitiveness Report, according to a statement carried by SPA. The findings were based on data provided by the World Economic Forum and the report analysed how much progress countries had made relative to their global peers in the last three years.
“There are two main drivers,” said Philip Meissner, founder of the European Centre for Digital Competitiveness, which compiled the study. “The champions in our report have a clear strategic vision that they swiftly implement and the second is that they all invest a lot in start-ups, in future technologies and in innovation in general.
Technology is a key driver of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 blueprint for economic and social reform. As the Kingdom seeks to reduce its reliance on the volatile oil industry it has become an increasingly high profile investor in global technology companies and encourages more of its graduates to pursue careers in the sector.
Within the G20 countries, Saudi Arabia was the top digital riser, while India and Italy fell significantly behind.
“Saudi Arabia’s outperformance can be mainly explained by its “ICT Strategy 2023”, which was launched in 2018 to transform the kingdom into a digital and technological powerhouse,” the report said. “Furthermore, the smart city project NEOM, to which the government allocated $500 billion, also highlights aspirations around the “Saudi Vision 2030.”
Saudi Arabia to introduce English language from first grade of primary school starting next academic year
Saudi Arabia will teach the English language from first grade of primary school starting from the next academic year, the education minister said on Sunday.
Speaking during an interview, Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh, said that five courses have been approved for the next academic year, including a focus on science and mathematics.
The minister also said that digital education would begin from the fourth year.
“There will be some changes that aim to benefit students and the future citizen to become a graduate of education and qualified to compete on an international level,” Al-Asheikh said.
Four of the courses will be introduced to all schools, but he said the fifth would only be implemented in the major schools distributed throughout the Kingdom.
“The general education stage is an important stage and we cannot improve higher education without improving secondary education, and this will happen in 2021,” the minister said.
The minister added there would be certain subjects that would be taught remotely, and distance education will continue even after the coronavirus pandemic.
Contact Information
For more information and insights about the situation in KSA, please contact Rizwan Safdar, Project Manager, KSA (Rizwan.Safdar@sa.britishcouncil.org)
KUWAIT:
The huge increase in the number of Kuwaitis who passed the general secondary exams this year has resulted in 44% increase in external scholarships. This translates to 871 more students compared to last year. Kuwait is sending this year 2848 Kuwaiti students on external scholarships including 2256 from government’s schools.
As a result of the massive success rate this year in the general secondary exams (the high schools exams), Kuwait University is expected to enroll 3000 students above its actual capacity. The University is expected to enroll 9500 students despite the fact that its actual capacity is 6362 seats.
Out of the total of 2848 Kuwaiti Students, around 1200 are heading to the UK which is 25% increase compared to last year.
Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Saud Al-Harbi announced on the 4th of October that the new scholastic year (2020-2021) kicks off today on schedule. Teaching will be online for all levels; pre-school, elementary, intermediate and high school, the minister said in a statement, indicating that the department had worked out an integrated scheme for online teaching. Shifting from conventional to electronic teaching was not easy because it required major preparations, an infrastructure and an integrated scientific substance, he said, affirming that the involved national cadres were quite capable of coping with the novel coronavirus crisis.
Contact Information
For more information, please contact Heba Elzein, Head of Partnerships and Programmes (Heba.Elzein@kw.britishcouncil.org)
UAE:
83% of students have opted for remote learning in UAE
https://gulfbusiness.com/covid-19-impact-83-of-students-have-opted-for-remote-learning-in-uae/
Dubai schools welcome ‘practical’ KHDA protocol to deal with Covid-positive cases
New American school opens in Dubai despite COVID-19 pandemic
Contact Information
For more information, please contact Dina Kanan, UAE Manger, International Education Services (dina.kanan@ae.britishcouncil.org)