How Tech-Savvy are Students in the UAE?

As the soaring percentage achieved by the CBSE students of 2015 made the Middle-East proud, the burgeoning technology entrepreneurship of the city glinted with promising prospects. These gleeful students streaming out in flocks from schools, embracing college education are the valuable assets that the Middle-East is banking on to unlock the true potential of technology.

And the reason is quite obvious. UAE’s young minds are increasingly developing new ways to implement technology in education and to make everyday lives easier.

A Significant Example of Change

One such example made its shining debut with four bright students from the University of Wollongong, Dubai. They created a pretty amazing interactive learning app which can provide children with a feedback on their reading and mathematical skills.

This app includes six activities on English and Mathematics. In fact, a lot of effort has gone into making this a complete success. Among these, integrating these few activities has been a touch of sheer genius.

Lorain Manoj, one of the brains behind this remarkable tool happily recounts, “This, we found is so important for teachers, who have to do this manually for every single pupil otherwise. The feedback on this feature was very positive.”

Another example is that of the robot babysitter that the students of Ajman University of Science and Technology (AUST) designed. This incredible application will help parents monitor their kids’ movements and communicate with them when out of their sight.

Now that is quite something, isn’t it?

Here are a few more instances that have propelled UAE’s students to the peak of innovation.

And that is just the beginning.

Technology in the Classroom

Of the unending possibilities that technology offers, we have barely scratched the surface. And the Middle-East has been enjoying its fair share too. Technology has penetrated the Middle-East classrooms a long time back because that’s where the young minds are. And the outcomes have been pretty overwhelming.

Students have emerged enlightened with their interests in technology being nurtured to the fullest. The schools and colleges have kept up diligently with the implementation by updating their gadgets as and when the newer ones arrive to make education better and brighter.

The Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) have been witness to a mass program of tech proliferation.

• iPads were distributed to 6200 students to help them enhance their English skills.
• This approach to the paperless classroom initiative attracted as many as 320 teachers.

And students were hooked immediately. As many as 80% of the students involved in the paperless classroom projectsaid that the iPad played a major role in learning English. Dr. Cristina Gitsaki of HCT recounts, “The highest-scoring students (in IELTS) were the ones who used the iPads. The results showed that students who use the iPads for four or more activities had significant improvement on their IELTS score.”

This video narrates the HCT move towards paperless classrooms.

These devices make technology far more accessible than you think. They are easy to use and allow enough room for students to build their strengths on ways to use them effectively. This automatically makes them a tech-savvy generation destined to reach unfathomable heights.

Students have embraced technology completely and their results show exactly where they stand in the tech-savvy quotient. And that is quite a height up there. Schools and colleges have come to realize this potential and are trying to harness that into a brighter future for the gulf.

Technology and Job Opportunities for the Young Guns

The year 2014 has seen quite a breakthrough in Dubai with the launch of Dubai Smart City (DSC) initiative. The highly tech-savvy population of Dubai has been the primary reason behind the implementation of such an initiative.

In fact, a few of the significant aspects that the Gulf is known for are:

• Use of ICT
• Effect of ICT use on new products and services
• Government success in promoting ICT
• Procurement of advanced tech by the Government

The tech-savvy Gen Y of Dubai has proved its knowledge and worth time and again by aiding Dubai land the bid to host the World Expo 2020, which revolves around the theme of  ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’. And this Expo is expected to generate 277,000 new jobs in the UAE and an inflow of $40 billion into the country’s economy.

Watch this video to get a better idea about the Dubai Expo 2020.

Mobility Growth of the Middle-East

Nowadays mobile devices are not restricted to mobile phones only. Tablets, smartwatches, Google Glass and even smart clothing have sneaked into the list of mobile devices. The ‘Internet of Everything‘ has fueled this transformation along with the increased adoption of new technology by the youth of UAE.

The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries have been found to boast a strong broadband network infrastructure. According to the State of Broadband 2014 report by ITU (International Telecommunication Union), UAE ranks 11th in mobile broadband penetration rate all over the world; this amounts to a whopping 89%.

In fact, it has been predicted that the Middle-East is going to witness the world’s fastest traffic growth rate of mobile data, along with Africa. The following statistics back this; it further claims:

• Smartphones and tablet device count is expected to rise from 133 million in 2013 to 598 million in 2018, which equals a tremendous growth rate of 35%.
• According to Cisco Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2013-2018, smart wearable device count is slated to grow from 700,000 in 2013 to 8 million in 2018.

This dramatic surge has been made possible by the tech-savvy Gen Y that is equipped with the latest skills in this field to bring the predictions to fruition. The nation owes this growth to the young minds who have been at the core of transforming the face of technology, one bit at a time.

UAE: One of the Top Tech-Savvy Nations in the World

UAE has been exceeding boundaries and carving out a niche for itself in the list of tech-savvy nations.

According to Global Information Technology Report (GITR), which is co-published by INSEAD (Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires) and the World Economic Forum (WEF), UAE is the 24th most network-ready nation among 148 economies. Compared to 2013’s rank of 25, 2014 saw a leap in the ranking.

UAE has also been ranked second in the network-readiness quotient in the Middle East, right after Qatar. This places UAE ahead of European countries including France and Italy.

UAE owes this honor to two things.

The facts are staggering:

• 85% of UAE’s population has access to a personal computer and is proficient with the Internet.
• Most of the government services are available online, indicating the tech-competence of the population.
• Apart from that, the e-commerce industry is quite established in UAE. The nation ranks a whopping 20th in e-commerce success.

According to Rabih Dabboussi, managing director of Cisco UAE, this leap has been possible because of the government’s extreme effort to pull up the reins of the nation. He says, “[This is] clearly exemplified by bold commitments to smart city development and infrastructural innovations related to events like Expo 2020.”

Students in UAE are trying their best to figure out the many aspects of technology that are yet to be unfurled and implemented to uplift the status of the Middle-East. The startups are in limelight now. And the wired generation is beginning to take matters into their hands to make this implementation a complete success. Therefore, the Middle-East is increasingly becoming one of the most sought-after hubs for tech workers to try the unending possibilities it holds.

If you spend some time articulating about the tech-peak UAE is headed for, the tech-savvy young minds would blossom to full glory as the ones behind the success. And from where the population is standing, things are looking up.

What do you think are the prospects of the Middle-East with its horde of tech-savvy young minds? Share those with us in the comments section below.