title: The Impact of Globalisation on Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates: Practitioner Perspectives of one Higher Education Institution
Creators: name: Rice, Rosalind
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2019

description: ABSTRACT The Impact of Globalisation on Higher Education in the United Arab Emirates: Practitioner perspectives of one Higher Education Institution. Rosalind Rice The purpose of this research is to create new knowledge about the ways in which a given Higher Education Institution (HEI) within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is responding to globalisation. This unique setting is being impacted by local influences (for example Emiratisation) and global forces (for example internationalisation and the growth of knowledge economies). Demands are being made by both the UAE Government and by society in general, resulting in new expectations of the role of Higher Education. The research questions focus on drawing out the knowledge that participants had of global issues by inquiring into ways in which globalisation is driving the change impacting the institution being studied (hereafter known as The College), educational policy changes resulting from these change factors, and considering the implications for practice. The research has been informed by the work of Clark (1983), where state, market and academic oligarchy are represented in his ‘triangle of coordination’. This has provided a robust model, sufficiently flexible to allow for an original interpretation of the views put forward by the participants. The research is qualitative in design, consisting of semi-structured individual interviews. Data was collected regarding professional practitioners’ perspectives on the global factors impacting on HE in the UAE. The inquiry also investigates the ways in which HE and The College are perceived to be changing in response to global issues. Adopting a social constructivist approach has allowed an interpretive framework to be used to understand the ways in which practitioners viewed their environment. Furthermore, the theoretical basis for studying The College is multi-level, extending from HE practice, to policy, government agendas and internationalisation. The need for this study, is strengthened by the most recent announcement underlining the government’s desire to prepare for the declining importance of oil production by re-orientating the UAE’s economy to that of a knowledge-based society (Nagraj, 2015). The findings reveal that globalisation is disrupting the UAE’s HE sector, prompting the national government to introduce policy changes, resulting in institutions interpreting global change factors in a way that satisfies the nuances of this setting. From the perspective of those interviewed, The College has been engaged in an ongoing change process for many years, impacting all aspects of the organisation, including its functions, procedures and behaviours. The research argues that the data demonstrates that the relationship between government, organisation and practitioners is complex, particularly when set against a changing global HE framework. The need to build a sustainable HE system in the context of the UAE is highlighted and the recommendation is that a cohesive approach to change is necessary. A prototype of a structured approach to change implementation is presented in this thesis. This graphical representation is informed by Lewin (1951) and Burke-Litwin (1992) in terms of critically analysing the elements necessary for meaningful change to take place. The research, therefore, makes an important contribution to constructing an understanding of the complexity of change taking place within The College.