UAE to Spend AED 10 Billion on Education Through 2021

DUBAI-With the UAE government spending AED 10 billion on education investment through 2021, UAE and Middle East educational institutions are turning to advanced IT infrastructure to foster innovative learning and digital career skills for students.

In the UAE and Middle East, governments and private schools are heavily investing in the latest educational technology to drive differentiated learning and collaborative projects that will help students prepare for the technology-infused careers.

Students are collaborating with schools across the country and around the world, educational institutions are storing student records digitally in the cloud, and IT teams are also deploying campus-wide cyber-security solutions to protect academic data.

For the UAE government, education is the largest share for social services spend at AED 10.2 billion through 2021, according to the Ministry of Finance. This investment is aligned with UAE Vision 2021 goals of fostering a first-rate education system with smart systems.

“UAE educational institutions are heavily investing in educational technology innovations, and as a result need to simplify and upgrade their IT infrastructure to support these initiatives,” said Andrew Calthorpe, CEO at UAE-based IT infrastructure and information management consultancy and solutions provider Condo Protego.

At one of the UAE’s leading higher education institutions, Condo Protego designed and implemented an innovative project that prioritizes storage and protection of academic data. Now, the institution can centrally manage data recovery and retrieval from its 17 campuses, with full disaster recovery to a second data center.

As a result, the project has driven the institution’s operational efficiency, reduced technology infrastructure complexity, freed up staff for mission critical tasks, and supported students to switch campuses while retaining online coursework and resources.

“Educational institutions need the right channel partner to drive digital transformation, with a focus on analyzing, storing, and securing data. Channel partners are vital for upskilling educational institution IT staff, who can in turn train educators and administrators on using data to drive better education outcomes,” added Andrew Calthorpe.