Gulf between aspirations and achievements
- Inder Malhotra/MALAYALA MANORAMA English edition
As part of a periodic reshuffle of diplomatic postings, the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi has sent some very senior and experienced officers as ambassadors to countries of the Gulf - the latest being Talmiz Ahmad as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - a region of the greatest importance to India. To each the policymakers spoke at length about this country's "enormous stakes" in the area and directed him to work for evolving a "role" for India there.
Indian stakes and interests in the Gulf region are as obvious as they are immense, but to talk of an Indian role is a tall order. Let the paradox be put in perspective.
Geographically, the Gulf is India's extended neighbourhood and the only link with the no less vital Central Asia, with Pakistan denying this country transit rights and Afghanistan having sunk into chaos. Historically, a relationship between the subcontinent and the Gulf goes back to ancient, pre-Islamic days. Britain controlled the Gulf littoral tightly because of its overwhelming strategic importance for the defence of India, the brightest jewel in the crown.
Remarkably, however, this control was exercised not from London but from Calcutta (now Kolkata) first and then New Delhi. Even after the end of the British rule in the subcontinent, the Reserve Bank of India was the currency issuing authority in the Gulf; in the mid-1950s this arrangement was terminated at the instance of India, not of the littoral states.
The discovery of oil in the early years of the twentieth century had boosted the Gulf's strategic and economic importance. Since the first oil shock of 1973, to say nothing of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 and the first Gulf War in 1991, it has swiftly increased and is at a very high pitch today amidst the brisk competition between China, India, Japan and South Korea for securing oil and gas.
Overriding all this, in some respects, is what is sometimes called India's "manpower bonanza" in the region. Three and a half million Indians live and work in the six states comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council. In some of these countries, the Indian workers form the majority of the population.
At first Indian manpower in the Gulf consisted almost exclusively of unskilled and semi-skilled workers. Now however the proportion of professionals has gone up to 25 percent. The Indian work force in the Gulf remits home a whopping sum of $20 billion a year, which, incidentally, is the vale of the Indo-Gulf trade also.
All this should normally be conducive to an active Indian role in the Gulf, especially because the entire region is within the operating radius of the Indian Navy, and to maintain the safe and smooth flow of oil is a crucial interest of not just India but also all energy-importing nations.
Unfortunately, however, rude ground realities often come in the way of even the most rational scenario. Until 1970, the Persian Gulf was a British lake. Now it is an American lake with the formidable presence of at least two carrier groups in the Gulf waters and the US bogged down in Vietnam-like quagmire in Iraq and apparently hell-bent on taking some kind of military action against Iran. Pakistan-specific issues also play a small but significant part in influencing attitudes in a predominantly Muslim area where the two South Asian neighbours often bicker.
More importantly this factor also affects America's willingness to let India, its strategic partner, be active in the region, except in a subordinate position to it. It prefers Indo-US maritime cooperation to centre on the Strait of Malacca rather than the Persian Gulf. Only the other day the US secretary of state announced huge military sales and aid to Gulf and West Asian countries. India, itself dependent on imports of the main weapons systems it needs, is a non-player in this arena.
Nor is this all. Until two years ago, the Chinese navy hadn't crossed the Malacca Strait. Now, there is a considerable presence of the Chinese navy in the Upper Arabian Sea. Moreover, China has acquired a major advantage over India by having the use of the Gwadar port at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz that it has built on the Makran coast of Pakistan, its all-weather friend.
The crowning irony is that even in areas such as economic cooperation between the fast-growing India and the booming countries of the Gulf - in which India can make massive contributions in IT and other sectors and the oil-rich Gulf countries can meet India's virtually insatiable needs for capital investment - little has been done.
It is not that the leaders on the two sides are lacking in imagination. Grandiose promises have been made during the visits to India of President Khatami of Iran in 2003, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who was chief guest at last year's Republic Day parade, and UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Dubai ruler, who came here recently. But they all became victims of the principal Indian weakness of being long on declarations of intent and woefully short on implementing them.
And what can be more distressing than that no Indian Prime Minister has visited any Gulf country since P.V. Narasimha Rao went to Oman in 1993? Under the circumstances, it should be no surprise if there is a yawning gulf between Indian aspirations and achievements in relation to the Gulf.
Inder Malhotra is a veteran commentator on political and strategic affairs. He can be reached at indermalhotra30@hotmail.com
I believe that all great achievements and success in life, and all changes for the better, have one powerful characteristic in common: The First Step. Take the first step, and the journey has a way of taking care of itself.”
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Sixty years of Pakistan
Sixty years of Pakistan
Friday,17 August 2007 10:00 hrs IST/MALAYALA MANORAMA English edition
- Alok Bansal As Pakistan completes 60 years of existence, it is passing through a critical phase. The state's writ does not run over almost half its territory. Most people consider themselves as Sindhis, Baloch, Pakhtoons, Mohajirs and Punjabis first rather than as Pakistanis. Pakistan as a nation is kept together artificially by the only institution that functions - the army.
Despite belated attempts by the judiciary to assert its independence, the fact is that for most part of Pakistan's existence the courts have been dysfunctional and came out with the bizarre 'Doctrine of Necessity' to justify military coups. Pakistan's greatest tragedy has been that barring the armed forces or army to be specific, no other credible institution has emerged. The judiciary, legislature and bureaucracy-all have crumbled during Pakistan's six decades' journey.
However, it was not always the case when Pakistan came into being in 1947. It was a much stronger nation vis-a-vis India, which most Western scholars of that era believed would crumble under the weight of its own inner contradictions. However, Pakistan suffered from two major flaws right from the beginning-firstly the leadership of the Muslim League came from the provinces that remained part of India and hence the party had no mass support in the region that became Pakistan.
Secondly, the early death of Mohammed Ali Jinnah eliminated the only credible leader who could draw support across Pakistan. And when Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in October 1951, whatever little semblance of leadership remained disappeared.
Not that Jinnah and Liaqat were without flaws. Jinnah had centralised power in his hands and was the Governor General, the party chief and a cabinet minister simultaneously. Liaquat was guilty of not expediting the process of constitution making. But still they were leaders whose appeal was not confined to a part of Pakistan or any particular group.
Pakistan experimented with half a dozen constitutions within the first 25 years of its existence. Frequent coups and military rules ensured that neither the constitution nor the other institutions of governance were allowed to evolve.
The first decade was crucial to shaping Pakistan's destiny and was marked by drift and chaos. Seven different prime ministers and eight different cabinets took oaths of office during this tumultuous period, resulting in the ascendancy of bureaucracy in the decision making, with the tacit support of the army.
When Ayub Khan took over the administration after the first military coup in 1958, the public, fed up with anarchy, supported him. In the initial years of the regime there was all-round improvement in the administration as well as economy. It was the time visitors from China and South Korea toured Pakistan to study its phenomenal success. But like any authoritarian regime, Ayub's rule had long-term adverse impact on Pakistan.
Suppression of people's democratic aspirations under a military regime and attempts to amalgamate ethnic identities by the creation of one unit impacted the Pakistani nation adversely. The 1965 war, often considered the high point of Pakistani nationalism, was the turning point as far as nationalism in the two South Asian countries was concerned.
From then on India consolidated as a nation but Pakistani nationalism began to wither. Bengali nationalism got a fillip during the 1965 war, when they were led to believe that their defence lay in West Pakistan. The reaction to 'one unit' created a strong sense of nationalism in Balochistan.
Ayub could not last the aftermath of 1965, when his own foreign minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, rebelled and convinced the masses that the gains of the battlefield had been frittered away at the negotiating table in Tashkent. However, Ayub's belief in the superiority of the military leadership resulted in General Yahya Khan succeeding him rather than any other civilian dispensation.
Yahya undid the 'one unit' and was sincere about return to democracy. He conducted the first and possibly the only credible elections under a military regime in Pakistan. But long years of military rule had irreparably damaged the Pakistani nation. Yahya allowed himself to be hoodwinked by Bhutto, and the result was Pakistan's break up and creation of Bangladesh.
The creation of Bangladesh removed whatever semblance of religious pluralism existed in Pakistan; and the absence of pluralism created fissures within Islam, which was supposed to bind Pakistan together. Bhutto, who succeeded Yahya Khan, moved Ahmediyas beyond the pale of Islam.
The fissures between various sects and schools within the same sect were accentuated under the Zia ul Haq regime, which brought religion on the centre stage of state policy.
Bhutto gave Pakistan its first workable constitution but his authoritarian streak led to the dismissal of opposition-led provincial governments, resulting in a violent uprising in Balochistan. Despite being the favourite to win the 1977 elections, Bhutto rigged them. Subsequent anti-government protests followed by government repression brought military once again on the centre stage.
Zia's era was the darkest in Pakistan's history. His Islamization drive, suppression of press and involvement in the Afghan conflict eroded the state structure considerably. Islamic militancy and sectarianism were the by-products of his policies, which finally led to the creation of Taliban.
Subsequent civilian interlude was not really a return to civilian rule. The army was not only looking from the sidelines, but decision making in certain key areas of state policy were kept beyond the ambit of civilian leadership. Marring this period was bickering between the two main political parties, led by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
The period also saw the disenchantment of Mohajirs (the refugees from India) who were in the forefront of the Pakistan movement, leading to long bouts of violence in Karachi. The Pakistani economy slid and its foreign debt rose. An economic collapse of Pakistan looked likely.
Economic consolidation required a cut in bourgeoning military expenditure, which the army would not allow. In 1999, when Nawaz Sharif tried to break free from the army, the army decided to move in and remove the civilian façade. Like in all previous occasions, the military rule led to initial economic recovery, but it had long-term adverse impact on Pakistan.
Sub-nationalism emerged as a serious threat to the Pakistani state. Islamic fundamentalists challenge the writ of the government across the length and breadth of Pakistan. Islamabad's frequent flip-flops on the foreign policy front and frequent incursions by American armed forces within Pakistani territory have compromised its sovereignty in the eyes of its citizens.
The author is a Research Fellow at New Delhi's Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.
Friday,17 August 2007 10:00 hrs IST/MALAYALA MANORAMA English edition
- Alok Bansal As Pakistan completes 60 years of existence, it is passing through a critical phase. The state's writ does not run over almost half its territory. Most people consider themselves as Sindhis, Baloch, Pakhtoons, Mohajirs and Punjabis first rather than as Pakistanis. Pakistan as a nation is kept together artificially by the only institution that functions - the army.
Despite belated attempts by the judiciary to assert its independence, the fact is that for most part of Pakistan's existence the courts have been dysfunctional and came out with the bizarre 'Doctrine of Necessity' to justify military coups. Pakistan's greatest tragedy has been that barring the armed forces or army to be specific, no other credible institution has emerged. The judiciary, legislature and bureaucracy-all have crumbled during Pakistan's six decades' journey.
However, it was not always the case when Pakistan came into being in 1947. It was a much stronger nation vis-a-vis India, which most Western scholars of that era believed would crumble under the weight of its own inner contradictions. However, Pakistan suffered from two major flaws right from the beginning-firstly the leadership of the Muslim League came from the provinces that remained part of India and hence the party had no mass support in the region that became Pakistan.
Secondly, the early death of Mohammed Ali Jinnah eliminated the only credible leader who could draw support across Pakistan. And when Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in October 1951, whatever little semblance of leadership remained disappeared.
Not that Jinnah and Liaqat were without flaws. Jinnah had centralised power in his hands and was the Governor General, the party chief and a cabinet minister simultaneously. Liaquat was guilty of not expediting the process of constitution making. But still they were leaders whose appeal was not confined to a part of Pakistan or any particular group.
Pakistan experimented with half a dozen constitutions within the first 25 years of its existence. Frequent coups and military rules ensured that neither the constitution nor the other institutions of governance were allowed to evolve.
The first decade was crucial to shaping Pakistan's destiny and was marked by drift and chaos. Seven different prime ministers and eight different cabinets took oaths of office during this tumultuous period, resulting in the ascendancy of bureaucracy in the decision making, with the tacit support of the army.
When Ayub Khan took over the administration after the first military coup in 1958, the public, fed up with anarchy, supported him. In the initial years of the regime there was all-round improvement in the administration as well as economy. It was the time visitors from China and South Korea toured Pakistan to study its phenomenal success. But like any authoritarian regime, Ayub's rule had long-term adverse impact on Pakistan.
Suppression of people's democratic aspirations under a military regime and attempts to amalgamate ethnic identities by the creation of one unit impacted the Pakistani nation adversely. The 1965 war, often considered the high point of Pakistani nationalism, was the turning point as far as nationalism in the two South Asian countries was concerned.
From then on India consolidated as a nation but Pakistani nationalism began to wither. Bengali nationalism got a fillip during the 1965 war, when they were led to believe that their defence lay in West Pakistan. The reaction to 'one unit' created a strong sense of nationalism in Balochistan.
Ayub could not last the aftermath of 1965, when his own foreign minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, rebelled and convinced the masses that the gains of the battlefield had been frittered away at the negotiating table in Tashkent. However, Ayub's belief in the superiority of the military leadership resulted in General Yahya Khan succeeding him rather than any other civilian dispensation.
Yahya undid the 'one unit' and was sincere about return to democracy. He conducted the first and possibly the only credible elections under a military regime in Pakistan. But long years of military rule had irreparably damaged the Pakistani nation. Yahya allowed himself to be hoodwinked by Bhutto, and the result was Pakistan's break up and creation of Bangladesh.
The creation of Bangladesh removed whatever semblance of religious pluralism existed in Pakistan; and the absence of pluralism created fissures within Islam, which was supposed to bind Pakistan together. Bhutto, who succeeded Yahya Khan, moved Ahmediyas beyond the pale of Islam.
The fissures between various sects and schools within the same sect were accentuated under the Zia ul Haq regime, which brought religion on the centre stage of state policy.
Bhutto gave Pakistan its first workable constitution but his authoritarian streak led to the dismissal of opposition-led provincial governments, resulting in a violent uprising in Balochistan. Despite being the favourite to win the 1977 elections, Bhutto rigged them. Subsequent anti-government protests followed by government repression brought military once again on the centre stage.
Zia's era was the darkest in Pakistan's history. His Islamization drive, suppression of press and involvement in the Afghan conflict eroded the state structure considerably. Islamic militancy and sectarianism were the by-products of his policies, which finally led to the creation of Taliban.
Subsequent civilian interlude was not really a return to civilian rule. The army was not only looking from the sidelines, but decision making in certain key areas of state policy were kept beyond the ambit of civilian leadership. Marring this period was bickering between the two main political parties, led by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
The period also saw the disenchantment of Mohajirs (the refugees from India) who were in the forefront of the Pakistan movement, leading to long bouts of violence in Karachi. The Pakistani economy slid and its foreign debt rose. An economic collapse of Pakistan looked likely.
Economic consolidation required a cut in bourgeoning military expenditure, which the army would not allow. In 1999, when Nawaz Sharif tried to break free from the army, the army decided to move in and remove the civilian façade. Like in all previous occasions, the military rule led to initial economic recovery, but it had long-term adverse impact on Pakistan.
Sub-nationalism emerged as a serious threat to the Pakistani state. Islamic fundamentalists challenge the writ of the government across the length and breadth of Pakistan. Islamabad's frequent flip-flops on the foreign policy front and frequent incursions by American armed forces within Pakistani territory have compromised its sovereignty in the eyes of its citizens.
The author is a Research Fellow at New Delhi's Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.
Develop intuitive powers, tells top Tata executive
Develop intuitive powers, tells top Tata executive
Tuesday,21 August 2007 18:15 hrs IST /MALAYALA MANORAMA English edition
New Delhi: Intuition, along with traditional tools like logic and analyses, plays an equal role in the management of today's corporations that are increasingly becoming global in outlook, a top Tata Sons executive said Tuesday.
"Logic and analysis are very important to leadership not making mistakes," R. Gopalakrishnan, executive director of Tata Sons, who played a key role in the mega acquisitions of the group, said in a lecture here.
"But they have limitations. Intuition is a powerful outlay, after the powers of logic have been exhausted," he said in the lecture on "The Manager's Dilemma: Analysis vs Intuition" at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).
Gopalakrishnan, who has also authored a book on corporate management titled "The Case of the Bonsai Manager", also emphasised that it is intuition that will play a key role in the success of smaller firms in a world ruled by conglomerates.
Stating that his book deals with a key leadership issue - on what the balance between logic and intuition is - Gopalakrishnan said, "The world of business is a world of practicality."
He said that in today's world, sticking to only analysis before taking any strategic decision would not lessen chances of mistakes on the part of the leader.
"Continuous analysis can lead to paralysis. It is here that intuition plays an important part."
He, however, added, "Intuition is not a substitute to analysis. It is a companion to analysis."
Elaborating, he said, "Knowledge is 'what you know you know'. Intuition is 'what you don't know you know'. A combination of both is wisdom."
So, how can a person be intuitive?
"If we cannot hear beyond our hearing range, see beyond our visual range or feel beyond our immediate environment, we cannot be intuitive," said Gopalakrishnan.
In a lighter vein, he said that analysis and intuition are as opposite to each other as corporate governance and sex.
"Everybody practises sex but does not talk about it. Everybody talks about corporate governance but nobody practises it."
Stating that analysis can lead one into thinking only on a linear path, he said, "It is intuition, that sudden 'aha' moment of life, that will help a manager reduce mistakes."
To emphasise his point, he referred to the examples of Archimedes and his bathtub moment and the apple falling on Isaac Newton's head.
Giving a powerpoint presentation, he said that intuition can be developed by immersion and contemplation. This should be followed by filling what he called the 'brain's remote implicit memory' or BRIM with emotion-rich stories.
"Your first day in school, your first job or the day your girlfriend rejected you. It can be anything - positive or negative. But it should be emotion-rich," he said.
And then sensing at the edge of the spectrum is the final stage of the process of developing intuitive powers.
"Management schools teach you not to be emotional. I say, 'Be emotional'," the Tata Sons executive director said.
Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Ficci vice-president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Gopalakrishnan's views are significant in today's world of conglomerates.
"Big conglomerates are very risk averse. This throws up huge opportunities for new entrepreneurs. But these opportunities can be successfully exploited only when approached with a good gut feeling after being properly analysed," he said.
Tuesday,21 August 2007 18:15 hrs IST /MALAYALA MANORAMA English edition
New Delhi: Intuition, along with traditional tools like logic and analyses, plays an equal role in the management of today's corporations that are increasingly becoming global in outlook, a top Tata Sons executive said Tuesday.
"Logic and analysis are very important to leadership not making mistakes," R. Gopalakrishnan, executive director of Tata Sons, who played a key role in the mega acquisitions of the group, said in a lecture here.
"But they have limitations. Intuition is a powerful outlay, after the powers of logic have been exhausted," he said in the lecture on "The Manager's Dilemma: Analysis vs Intuition" at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).
Gopalakrishnan, who has also authored a book on corporate management titled "The Case of the Bonsai Manager", also emphasised that it is intuition that will play a key role in the success of smaller firms in a world ruled by conglomerates.
Stating that his book deals with a key leadership issue - on what the balance between logic and intuition is - Gopalakrishnan said, "The world of business is a world of practicality."
He said that in today's world, sticking to only analysis before taking any strategic decision would not lessen chances of mistakes on the part of the leader.
"Continuous analysis can lead to paralysis. It is here that intuition plays an important part."
He, however, added, "Intuition is not a substitute to analysis. It is a companion to analysis."
Elaborating, he said, "Knowledge is 'what you know you know'. Intuition is 'what you don't know you know'. A combination of both is wisdom."
So, how can a person be intuitive?
"If we cannot hear beyond our hearing range, see beyond our visual range or feel beyond our immediate environment, we cannot be intuitive," said Gopalakrishnan.
In a lighter vein, he said that analysis and intuition are as opposite to each other as corporate governance and sex.
"Everybody practises sex but does not talk about it. Everybody talks about corporate governance but nobody practises it."
Stating that analysis can lead one into thinking only on a linear path, he said, "It is intuition, that sudden 'aha' moment of life, that will help a manager reduce mistakes."
To emphasise his point, he referred to the examples of Archimedes and his bathtub moment and the apple falling on Isaac Newton's head.
Giving a powerpoint presentation, he said that intuition can be developed by immersion and contemplation. This should be followed by filling what he called the 'brain's remote implicit memory' or BRIM with emotion-rich stories.
"Your first day in school, your first job or the day your girlfriend rejected you. It can be anything - positive or negative. But it should be emotion-rich," he said.
And then sensing at the edge of the spectrum is the final stage of the process of developing intuitive powers.
"Management schools teach you not to be emotional. I say, 'Be emotional'," the Tata Sons executive director said.
Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Ficci vice-president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Gopalakrishnan's views are significant in today's world of conglomerates.
"Big conglomerates are very risk averse. This throws up huge opportunities for new entrepreneurs. But these opportunities can be successfully exploited only when approached with a good gut feeling after being properly analysed," he said.
UAE revises up 2006 GDP growth to 9.4pc
UAE revises up 2006 GDP growth to 9.4pc
(Reuters)/21 August 2007
DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates revised up its 2006 economic growth rate to 9.4 per cent on faster expansion in the oil and gas sector, the economy ministry said.
The second-largest Arab economy expanded to Dh391.16 billion ($106.5 billion) last year, from Dh357.59 billion in 2005, according to the latest data published on the Ministry of Economy web site.
The ministry said in March real gross domestic product grew 8.9 per cent last year.
The ministry revised the growth rate to account for higher growth in the oil and gas output, which accounts for 25.9 per cent of GDP.
The value of petroleum sector output grew 6.5 per cent to Dh101.31 billion, the ministry said, compared with the Dh99.9 billion figure released in March.
"You're not going to see a growth rate that fast in the oil sector this year," said Giyas Gokkent, head of economic research at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) agreed at two meetings late last year to cut production by a total of 1.7 million barrels per day or roughly six per cent of group output, in response to a sharp drop in oil prices. The UAE's production was rolled back to 2.5 million barrels a day from around 2.6 million barrels as part of the cuts, Gokkent said.
Economic growth in 2005 was 10.5 per cent, ministry data showed based on revised 2004 growth data. In 2003, the economy grew at 11.9 per cent.
(Reuters)/21 August 2007
DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates revised up its 2006 economic growth rate to 9.4 per cent on faster expansion in the oil and gas sector, the economy ministry said.
The second-largest Arab economy expanded to Dh391.16 billion ($106.5 billion) last year, from Dh357.59 billion in 2005, according to the latest data published on the Ministry of Economy web site.
The ministry said in March real gross domestic product grew 8.9 per cent last year.
The ministry revised the growth rate to account for higher growth in the oil and gas output, which accounts for 25.9 per cent of GDP.
The value of petroleum sector output grew 6.5 per cent to Dh101.31 billion, the ministry said, compared with the Dh99.9 billion figure released in March.
"You're not going to see a growth rate that fast in the oil sector this year," said Giyas Gokkent, head of economic research at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) agreed at two meetings late last year to cut production by a total of 1.7 million barrels per day or roughly six per cent of group output, in response to a sharp drop in oil prices. The UAE's production was rolled back to 2.5 million barrels a day from around 2.6 million barrels as part of the cuts, Gokkent said.
Economic growth in 2005 was 10.5 per cent, ministry data showed based on revised 2004 growth data. In 2003, the economy grew at 11.9 per cent.
Higher education strategy takes new turn
Higher education strategy takes new turn By Abdullah Al Shaiba, Staff Writer/GULF NEWS Published: August 19, 2007, 00:22
Needs of the labour market have to be included while devising higher education programmes, writes Abdullah Al Shaiba
It has become important for nations which seek prosperity and stability to establish, and maintain clear, transparent and achievable strategies for its development programmes.
The UAE has decided to follow that path under the new leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Recently, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHE) announced its strategic plan for higher education programmes and scientific research activities in the country.
The strategic plan is an essential part of the comprehensive national strategy announced a few months ago by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The strategy was based upon the key roles the MHE performs which are:
The MHE is responsible for the general planning of higher education and scientific research in the country;
It will continue its mission as a coordinator between universities and colleges nationwide;
It supervises the issues and affairs of private universities and colleges;
It supervises international scholarships for UAE nationals;
The MHE organises the activities of scientific research.
Achieving a balance
The major goal of the strategic plan issued by the MHE is to establish, maintain, and broaden the prospective balance between the local labour market and the outcomes of higher education institutions.
The plan should complete the overall goals of the UAE strategy which has been established by the current cabinet and approved by Shaikh Khalifa.
Partnership with labour market
The strategy of the MHE focuses on improving the entire higher education system in the UAE to be one of the best systems worldwide according to international standards and practices adopted in accordance with the local identity and circumstances.
The MHE also aims to play an important role in creating the new knowledge-based economy in the UAE through establishing a new strategic partnership between higher education institutions and the labour market in order to participate in the comprehensive national development programmes.
Therefore, the participation of both the private market and business community is fundamental in the area of providing the necessary sponsorship for the students via internal or external scholarships programmes.
It is important to indicate that the MHE has already implemented some parts of its strategy with the Ministry of Education; particularly in the project of Future Schools, which aims to improve UAE national students' educational levels during the general education stages in order to decrease the need for "foundation programmes or foundation years" in public higher education institutions.
The MHE will also develop the scientific research activities in the UAE in order to create a knowledge society.
The ministry will continue developing its system in both higher education and scientific research in order to support the decision-making process and to link the higher education and scientific research with the actual needs of the society.
The national strategy in general, and the strategy of the MHE in particular, no doubt, establishes a new era in the contemporary history of the UAE.
However, it is important to keep the strategy steady even when people who are responsible for its implementation have changed.
The strategy
The general aspects of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHE) strategy are:
Develop the quality performance of the ministry with full coordination with the relevant federal and local institutions.
Offer the appropriate alternatives to replace the current academic programmes that aim to improve the students' competencies in universities and colleges. This the MHE will coordinate with the Ministry of Education.
Develop the potential of private universities and colleges in coordination with the local education councils.
Coordinate with the Ministry of Education to face the challenge of the increase in the drop-out rates among male students in general education and to raise their participation in higher education institutions.
Coordinate with Ministry of Labour in the area of improving the mission of higher education in order to meet the requirements of the society.
Coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Society Development in spreading awareness of the national identity and heritage of the UAE.
Establish the appropriate initiatives to prepare and qualify UAE national manpower in order to increase their recruitment opportunities in the private market.
Develop and support the efforts of the Commission of Academic Accreditation (CAA) which supervises the private higher education institutions.
The writer is a UAE-based academic and thinker
Needs of the labour market have to be included while devising higher education programmes, writes Abdullah Al Shaiba
It has become important for nations which seek prosperity and stability to establish, and maintain clear, transparent and achievable strategies for its development programmes.
The UAE has decided to follow that path under the new leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Recently, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHE) announced its strategic plan for higher education programmes and scientific research activities in the country.
The strategic plan is an essential part of the comprehensive national strategy announced a few months ago by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The strategy was based upon the key roles the MHE performs which are:
The MHE is responsible for the general planning of higher education and scientific research in the country;
It will continue its mission as a coordinator between universities and colleges nationwide;
It supervises the issues and affairs of private universities and colleges;
It supervises international scholarships for UAE nationals;
The MHE organises the activities of scientific research.
Achieving a balance
The major goal of the strategic plan issued by the MHE is to establish, maintain, and broaden the prospective balance between the local labour market and the outcomes of higher education institutions.
The plan should complete the overall goals of the UAE strategy which has been established by the current cabinet and approved by Shaikh Khalifa.
Partnership with labour market
The strategy of the MHE focuses on improving the entire higher education system in the UAE to be one of the best systems worldwide according to international standards and practices adopted in accordance with the local identity and circumstances.
The MHE also aims to play an important role in creating the new knowledge-based economy in the UAE through establishing a new strategic partnership between higher education institutions and the labour market in order to participate in the comprehensive national development programmes.
Therefore, the participation of both the private market and business community is fundamental in the area of providing the necessary sponsorship for the students via internal or external scholarships programmes.
It is important to indicate that the MHE has already implemented some parts of its strategy with the Ministry of Education; particularly in the project of Future Schools, which aims to improve UAE national students' educational levels during the general education stages in order to decrease the need for "foundation programmes or foundation years" in public higher education institutions.
The MHE will also develop the scientific research activities in the UAE in order to create a knowledge society.
The ministry will continue developing its system in both higher education and scientific research in order to support the decision-making process and to link the higher education and scientific research with the actual needs of the society.
The national strategy in general, and the strategy of the MHE in particular, no doubt, establishes a new era in the contemporary history of the UAE.
However, it is important to keep the strategy steady even when people who are responsible for its implementation have changed.
The strategy
The general aspects of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHE) strategy are:
Develop the quality performance of the ministry with full coordination with the relevant federal and local institutions.
Offer the appropriate alternatives to replace the current academic programmes that aim to improve the students' competencies in universities and colleges. This the MHE will coordinate with the Ministry of Education.
Develop the potential of private universities and colleges in coordination with the local education councils.
Coordinate with the Ministry of Education to face the challenge of the increase in the drop-out rates among male students in general education and to raise their participation in higher education institutions.
Coordinate with Ministry of Labour in the area of improving the mission of higher education in order to meet the requirements of the society.
Coordinate with the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Society Development in spreading awareness of the national identity and heritage of the UAE.
Establish the appropriate initiatives to prepare and qualify UAE national manpower in order to increase their recruitment opportunities in the private market.
Develop and support the efforts of the Commission of Academic Accreditation (CAA) which supervises the private higher education institutions.
The writer is a UAE-based academic and thinker
Quality scheme to win shoppers' confidence
Quality scheme to win shoppers' confidence
By Binsal Abdul Kader, Staff Reporter/GULF NEWS Published: August 20, 2007, 23:37
Abu Dhabi: Shoppers can soon confidently pick up quality products from the market thanks to a standardisation scheme introduced by a federal agency.
Manufacturers or producers can attain an 'Emirates Quality Mark' for their products which ensures UAE or regional and international standards, said Muammar Mustafa, Director of the Conformity Assessment Department of Emirates Standardisation and Metrology Authority (ESMA) in Dubai.
The Emirates Conformity Mark Scheme to "mark" imported and locally produced products, has received a good response from the industry, he said.
ESMA is a national standards body and a legally authorised agency at the federal level entrusted with activities related to standards and quality in all the emirates.
It ensures safety, health, economical and environmental protection. The scheme which came into existence last month is not mandatory but voluntary and encourages the participation of manufacturers.
It is a comprehensive standardisation scheme which assesses not only the quality of products but also their safety.
To grant the "mark" coded "Al Alama" to a product, the standards of the manufacturing or producing units will also be assessed, apart from the quality of the products, said Mustafa.
If it so requires, the officials of the agency will visit a foreign country to assess the standard of the manufacturing unit and the process, said the director.
Applications
He said so far about 15 manufacturers have submitted applications to get the "mark" for their products since the scheme was introduced on July 19.
The applicants include three multinational companies and local manufacturers in the steel, food and lubricant industries. The evaluation may take about six weeks and the first quality mark from ESMA will be presented soon, said the director.
He said ESMA's aim is to raise awareness among the consumers to insist on a high quality of products so that a self-regulatory mechanism will be put in place.
If consumers insist on the products with the "mark" sellers will be compelled to give preference to such products.
The director made it clear the system will work in accordance with WTO's TBT guidelines (Technical Barriers to Trade) which insists that export and import of countries must not be hindered by regulations which are against international law.
Many consumers who had a bitter experience with substandard products in the market welcomed the new move.
Yazer Essam, an Egyptian said he was shocked to get a plastic piece in a soft drink bottle purchased from a shop. Such an experience may not be repeated if there is a 'quality mark' on products.
Retailers also welcomed the move. Kamal Vachani, director of Al Maya group said the standardisation will attract more customers to the UAE as an internationally reputed market.
"It is the biggest market in the Middle East so most of the products are launched here. Customers confidence in the mark will be improved with the new scheme."
Nine categories to get certified
Although ESMA encourages manufacturers to get all types of products certified, it proactively takes up the following nine categories initially in the scope of the quality mark:
- Electrical household products
- Food products
- Toys
- Cosmetics
- Detergents
- Construction materials (cement)
- Lubricants
- Paints
- Wires and cables
Monday, August 20, 2007
Sharjah Port fire - Heroes of the inferno
Heroes of the inferno
By Alia Al Theeb and Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporters/GULF NEWS Published: August 19, 2007, 23:05
Dubai: As the thick smoke cleared, they could finally breathe easy - firefighters from across the country fought valiantly to combat the blaze that spread panic in Sharjah.
Gulf News spoke to two of the brave men who battled the inferno all night.
Two firefighters from Dubai Civil Defence said they spent 13 hours fighting the fire that started at oil products storage facilities of Emirates Lube Oil Company in Sharjah's Port Khalid.
Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Al Sayegh, Coordinator of the Dubai firefighting teams on the site, told Gulf News he did not sleep for two days guiding his men. He said some firefighters were even called back from their vacations to help put out the fire.
He said Dubai teams supported Sharjah teams by providing them with water and in putting out the fire and getting into the site. He said around 30 firefighters and four fire officers went from Dubai, 15 on the first day and another 15 on the second day.
Break for a breath
Lieutenant Colonel Al Sayegh, who has been in the Civil Defence for 20 years, described the fire as a "developed fire". He said there was thick black smoke which was suffocating.
"We needed a place to rest at the site, so a tent was put up. We took a breath every now and then. Some of us even went to rest in our cars," he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Al Sayegh said he rested his men, changing them every day, but he remained on the scene. "I did not sleep for two days as I was responsible for updating the firefighting plans depending on the wind direction as well as coordinating the teams," he said.
Lieutenant Majid Bin Hafez, a field officer and Director of Al Ghusais Civil Defence Centre, said he spent 13 continuous hours on the site.
"The team spirit on the site made the job easier because teams from various emirates worked next to each other to confine the fire," he told Gulf News.
Lieutenant Bin Hafez, who has been working as a field officer for the past six years, said exhaustion is always a factor, especially during the heat, but most of the firefighters were in good physical shape. "The experience was exciting and added to my knowledge," he said.
A firefighter from Sharjah Civil Defence who was on site, Mohammad Guloom, told Gulf News he had been trying to douse the fire and cool the area since Saturday.
"We have been here all this time trying to put out the fire and prevent it from spreading. There seems to be a lot of damage but we managed to get it under control with cooperation from other emirates," he said, adding that the fire was one of the biggest he had tried to fight. "This was probably the biggest on a national scale."
The summer temperatures made the job more difficult, he said, but the water being sprayed played its part in keeping the firefighters cool too, he said as he filled his helmet with water and poured it over his head.
Firefighters stayed on site for seven hours before their colleagues took over.
The area Guloom was trying to cool is where containers of imported cigarettes once stood. "Hundreds of cartons of many different kinds of cigarettes were burnt," he said.
An official from a marine services operator, which has an office at Port Khalid, said the company had lost two cars.
"Three thousand workers have been off work but hopefully they will be back soon."
By Alia Al Theeb and Abbas Al Lawati, Staff Reporters/GULF NEWS Published: August 19, 2007, 23:05
Dubai: As the thick smoke cleared, they could finally breathe easy - firefighters from across the country fought valiantly to combat the blaze that spread panic in Sharjah.
Gulf News spoke to two of the brave men who battled the inferno all night.
Two firefighters from Dubai Civil Defence said they spent 13 hours fighting the fire that started at oil products storage facilities of Emirates Lube Oil Company in Sharjah's Port Khalid.
Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Al Sayegh, Coordinator of the Dubai firefighting teams on the site, told Gulf News he did not sleep for two days guiding his men. He said some firefighters were even called back from their vacations to help put out the fire.
He said Dubai teams supported Sharjah teams by providing them with water and in putting out the fire and getting into the site. He said around 30 firefighters and four fire officers went from Dubai, 15 on the first day and another 15 on the second day.
Break for a breath
Lieutenant Colonel Al Sayegh, who has been in the Civil Defence for 20 years, described the fire as a "developed fire". He said there was thick black smoke which was suffocating.
"We needed a place to rest at the site, so a tent was put up. We took a breath every now and then. Some of us even went to rest in our cars," he said.
Lieutenant Colonel Al Sayegh said he rested his men, changing them every day, but he remained on the scene. "I did not sleep for two days as I was responsible for updating the firefighting plans depending on the wind direction as well as coordinating the teams," he said.
Lieutenant Majid Bin Hafez, a field officer and Director of Al Ghusais Civil Defence Centre, said he spent 13 continuous hours on the site.
"The team spirit on the site made the job easier because teams from various emirates worked next to each other to confine the fire," he told Gulf News.
Lieutenant Bin Hafez, who has been working as a field officer for the past six years, said exhaustion is always a factor, especially during the heat, but most of the firefighters were in good physical shape. "The experience was exciting and added to my knowledge," he said.
A firefighter from Sharjah Civil Defence who was on site, Mohammad Guloom, told Gulf News he had been trying to douse the fire and cool the area since Saturday.
"We have been here all this time trying to put out the fire and prevent it from spreading. There seems to be a lot of damage but we managed to get it under control with cooperation from other emirates," he said, adding that the fire was one of the biggest he had tried to fight. "This was probably the biggest on a national scale."
The summer temperatures made the job more difficult, he said, but the water being sprayed played its part in keeping the firefighters cool too, he said as he filled his helmet with water and poured it over his head.
Firefighters stayed on site for seven hours before their colleagues took over.
The area Guloom was trying to cool is where containers of imported cigarettes once stood. "Hundreds of cartons of many different kinds of cigarettes were burnt," he said.
An official from a marine services operator, which has an office at Port Khalid, said the company had lost two cars.
"Three thousand workers have been off work but hopefully they will be back soon."
15 Tips to help you succeed at whatever you wish.
15 Tips to help you succeed at whatever you wish.
Tip 1 Ask for what you want.
How does the world know what to give you unless you put it out there? Ask for what you want and need. Let the world know what you want from it and look for it in return.
Tip 2 Be the person you want to be.
It's call modeling. If you act like it, people will believe it. Assume the role you want others to see you in. Sell it from the inside out.
Tip 3 Believe in yourself.
If you don't, no one will. People will follow; you just need to lead them. Forget worrying; concentrate on making things happen. Action and momentum are infectious.
Tip 4 Make a plan.
No one goes anywhere without a destination. Know your destination, and plot your journey. Take whatever pleasures you need on the way, but know that you are moving forward and will arrive at your destination.
Tip 5 Nervous = excited.
Realize that being nervous is the same as being excited. Instead of dreading it, welcome the surge of positive energy. Own it, and use it. It's infectious in a good way!
Tip 6 Thinking about your failure brings your failure.
Concentrate on your success and watch it happen. Your mind will move in whatever direction you point it in. Make sure it's pointed toward where you want to go and not where you don't!
Tip 7 Feel whatever way you choose.
You control your feelings. You allow yourself to be upset, annoyed or frustrated. Only you control your feelings and no one else. Take back the power you give others and choose to feel strong, clear-minded and in control.
Tip 8 Communicate.
Listening and being understood are the keys to communication. People want to talk about themselves and they want to hear interesting things about you. No one wants to hear a sermon or hear a rant about your latest victory or great audition. Listen, observe and speak about mutually interesting subjects. Otherwise, you're a bore.
Tip 9 Freak out.
Bad audition, interview or meeting? Take ten minutes to beat yourself up. Blame yourself, be annoyed and frustrated. Then, learn your lesson and move on. Now that all your anger is gone, put your energy into the lessons learned and move forward once again.
Tip 10 Speak your mind, NOW.
People swallow their feelings and anger, they postpone what they really want to say, thinking, "I'll just wait till a good time." DON'T! Handle the situation now, before the situation changes. Have a problem? Be a diplomat and talk about it. Handling a minor situation now will prevent it from becoming a festering chasm of misunderstanding and resentment later.
Tip 11 Dive in.
Someone make you feel inadequate? A situation makes you feel uneasy? In a room with a big shot and feeling small? Don't overcompensate, navigate or fake your way through it, because you can't. Dive in and address the problem. Address your feelings and say, "I've got to be honest, I'm a big fan and I'm feeling a little intimidated right now." As soon as you own up to your feelings and the playing field is understood, you're both able to move ahead. Everyone wants to deal with someone who's truthful and honest, and not afraid to address their own insecurities.
Tip 12 Exploit yourself.
Find out what makes you different and exploit it. Each of you has a quality that makes you unique. Instead of trying to be what others are, exploit your uniqueness. It's the one "ace" you have that no one else possesses.
Tip 13 Don't accept the unacceptable.
Train people to treat you as you want to be treated. Being late is not acceptable, not returning calls is not acceptable and them not doing their job is not acceptable. Don't accept these behaviors from people.
Tip 14 Walk a mile in someone else's shoes.
Be someone else. Changing perspective is an amazing tip to see the world from another point of view. Assume a character and role and act it out for one day, then go out in the world as if it's all new to you. You'll be amazed at the new perspective you gain.
Tip 15 Say thank you.
Send an email from Hallmark, a card or a simple phone call. Don't underestimate the value of someone feeling appreciated and recognized for their efforts. It leaves a lasting impression when someone thanks you for meeting or helping them.
A TRICK
A TRICK
A young man, a student in one of our universities, was one day taking a walk with a professor, who was commonly called the students' friend, for his kindness to those who waited on his instructions.
As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which they supposed to belong to a poor man who was employed in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day's work.
The student turned to the professor, saying: "Let us play the man a trick: we will hide his shoes, and conceal ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them."
"My young friend," answered the professor, "we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of the poor man. Put a coin into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how the discovery affects him."
The student did so, and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by.
The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes. While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes; but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin.
Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance. He gazed upon the coin, turned it round, and looked at it again and again. He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin.
His feelings overcame him; he fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom the timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing.
The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears. "Now," said the professor, "are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?"
The youth replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. I feel now the truth of those words, which I never understood before: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
-- Author Unknown
A young man, a student in one of our universities, was one day taking a walk with a professor, who was commonly called the students' friend, for his kindness to those who waited on his instructions.
As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which they supposed to belong to a poor man who was employed in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day's work.
The student turned to the professor, saying: "Let us play the man a trick: we will hide his shoes, and conceal ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them."
"My young friend," answered the professor, "we should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor. But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of the poor man. Put a coin into each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how the discovery affects him."
The student did so, and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by.
The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes. While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes; but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin.
Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance. He gazed upon the coin, turned it round, and looked at it again and again. He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin.
His feelings overcame him; he fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving, in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom the timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing.
The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears. "Now," said the professor, "are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?"
The youth replied, "You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. I feel now the truth of those words, which I never understood before: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
-- Author Unknown
etisalat to offer 'triple play' service soon
etisalat to offer 'triple play' service soon
By Ivan Gale, Staff Reporter/GULF NEWS Published: August 19, 2007, 23:05
Dubai: etisalat expects to offer 'triple play' service to more than 100,000 customers this quarter once government regulators approve its pricing scheme, its chief executive said.
Triple play is a bundled service delivering fixed line and high-speed TV and internet over one cable into the home or office. It is often touted as producing cost savings to operators and customers.
"Customers will be able to receive state of the art technology at very high broadband speeds," Mohammad Al Qamzi said. "This will be high-definition TV and internet will also be at very high speeds."
Reduced costs
The etisalat CEO said an immediate benefit to the company would be reduced costs on maintenance and equipment.
"This is where the future of telecom is, where we can serve customers at a lower price and higher bandwidth."
The product rollout will first be offered to subscribers of etisalat's e-vision TV service because these customers already have installed the necessary cabling into their homes.
A pricing plan has already been submitted to the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.
The bundling will target higher sales of each of the three services offered, including the unprofitable e-vision division.
The initiative is the first step in a multi-year plan for the company, as it develops a next-generation network composed entirely of IP-based technology.
After completing its core network in Dubai and Abu Dhabi last year, the telecom provider will spend the next three years installing soft switches and fibre optic cabling throughout the country, Al Qamzi said. "We are now going for the 'last mile' - deploying fibre to the customer," he said.
The first recipients of this high-bandwidth, all-IP network will be 27,000 residents in Abu Dhabi after etisalat successfully replaces the first of several hundred legacy switches. The new network should debut in Abu Dhabi in two months.
The project comes at a time when businesses and consumer are increasingly consuming higher data traffic, the CEO said.
"Internationally, voice [revenues] are declining, but data is increasing - that's where the growth is."
Gulf to Japan VLCC freight hits four-year low partly due to Opec cuts
Gulf to Japan VLCC freight hits four-year low partly due to Opec cuts Reuters Published: August 19, 2007, 23:05
London: The world's main crude export route sank to a four-year low last Tuesday, hit by strong fleet supply, long-standing Opec cuts and refinery maintenance in Asia, according to brokers and analysts.
The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) route from the Gulf to Japan struck W50 - its lowest level since October 2003, according to Reuters data.
The London Baltic Exchange confirmed the physical spot trade on the route at W49.97 - an average between single and double-hulled oil tankers on the long-haul voyage.
Japan is Asia's biggest importer of crude oil, closely followed by China. More than two-thirds of the Gulf's oil flows to Asia.
Brokers Simpson, Spence & Young cited a bout of refinery maintenance in Japan at the end of August and South Korea as a further reasons for the weakness.
Other core rates from the Gulf to the United States and out of the Atlantic Basin - West Africa and the North Sea - to the United States have already struck four-year lows.
Long-haul routes
Despite strong world crude demand and buoyant economic growth, major long-haul crude export routes - including those from top producers in the Gulf - have been hit hard by strong fleet growth and long-standing Opec cuts this year.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided last year to lower output by 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd), equivalent to a VLCC's worth a day from the market.
The group is meeting about 900,000 bpd of the promised reduction, according to a Reuters survey of July output.
High stocks in the United States and a backward dated Nymex crude futures market since mid-July have pressured export flows and correspondingly rates, as traders delay buying.
A heavy round of refinery maintenance in the world's biggest consumer and unscheduled stoppages have also squeezed flows. "Oil tanker movements suggest oil in transit is well below seasonal norms, especially on westbound routes, and will remain so for several weeks," the International Energy Agency said in a report last week. "In the Atlantic Basin, production outages and economic run cuts in Europe offer further downside to prospective crude vessel interest," it said.
Sharp contrast
The slide on crude freight markets is in sharp contrast to ocean freight for dry commodities - a different sea freight sector - which continues to smash records. Some analysts said the new freight lows on crude were on a nominal basis only because the 'real' or dollar per tonne price was higher on a Time Charter Equivalent basis due to starkly higher ship fuel (bunker) costs this year.
London: The world's main crude export route sank to a four-year low last Tuesday, hit by strong fleet supply, long-standing Opec cuts and refinery maintenance in Asia, according to brokers and analysts.
The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) route from the Gulf to Japan struck W50 - its lowest level since October 2003, according to Reuters data.
The London Baltic Exchange confirmed the physical spot trade on the route at W49.97 - an average between single and double-hulled oil tankers on the long-haul voyage.
Japan is Asia's biggest importer of crude oil, closely followed by China. More than two-thirds of the Gulf's oil flows to Asia.
Brokers Simpson, Spence & Young cited a bout of refinery maintenance in Japan at the end of August and South Korea as a further reasons for the weakness.
Other core rates from the Gulf to the United States and out of the Atlantic Basin - West Africa and the North Sea - to the United States have already struck four-year lows.
Long-haul routes
Despite strong world crude demand and buoyant economic growth, major long-haul crude export routes - including those from top producers in the Gulf - have been hit hard by strong fleet growth and long-standing Opec cuts this year.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries decided last year to lower output by 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd), equivalent to a VLCC's worth a day from the market.
The group is meeting about 900,000 bpd of the promised reduction, according to a Reuters survey of July output.
High stocks in the United States and a backward dated Nymex crude futures market since mid-July have pressured export flows and correspondingly rates, as traders delay buying.
A heavy round of refinery maintenance in the world's biggest consumer and unscheduled stoppages have also squeezed flows. "Oil tanker movements suggest oil in transit is well below seasonal norms, especially on westbound routes, and will remain so for several weeks," the International Energy Agency said in a report last week. "In the Atlantic Basin, production outages and economic run cuts in Europe offer further downside to prospective crude vessel interest," it said.
Sharp contrast
The slide on crude freight markets is in sharp contrast to ocean freight for dry commodities - a different sea freight sector - which continues to smash records. Some analysts said the new freight lows on crude were on a nominal basis only because the 'real' or dollar per tonne price was higher on a Time Charter Equivalent basis due to starkly higher ship fuel (bunker) costs this year.
Blue eyes spell success
Blue eyes spell success
Monday,20 August 2007 20:7 hrs IST /Malayala Manoram
New York: Success lies in the colour of your eyes, and those with blue ones are likely to achieve more in life than their peers as they tend to study more effectively and perform better in exams, says a study conducted by US scientists. The study did not mention anything about people with black irises.
The tests showed that brown-eyed people had faster reaction time, but those with lighter eyes appeared to be better strategic thinkers.
Brown-eyed people succeeded in activities such as football and hockey, but lighter-eyed participants proved to be more successful in activities that required skills in time structuring and planning such as golf, cross-country running and studying for exams, the scientists said.
Louisville University professor Joanna Rowe, who conducted the tests, said the results suggested an unexplored link between eye colour and academic achievement.
"It is just observed, rather than explained," she told 'Herald Sun'. "There's no scientific answer yet."
Bedfordshire University senior psychology lecturer Tony Fallone, who has also studied eye colour, believed it should be taken more seriously as an indicator of personality and ability.
Blue-eyed academic successes include Stephen Hawking and Marie Curie who twice won the Nobel prize, for physics and chemistry.
Blue eyes contain low amounts of melanin within the iris stroma. The type of melanin present is eumelanin. People with blue eyes are relatively common throughout Europe and other areas with populations of European descent, such as Canada, the United States, Australia and some countries of the Middle East. Iranian states such as Afghanistan and Iran also have somewhat uncommon occurrences of blue-eyed people.
There are also populations in northern India and Pakistan that have naturally occurring blue eyes, although this is extremely rare. Throughout the rest of the world they are relatively rare. Around eight percent of the world's population has blue eyes.
As melanin production generally increases during the first few years of life (especially if exposed to the sun), the blue eyes of some babies may darken as they get older. In the case of blue-green eyes, they must be more blue than green to be considered blue. Aqua blue is a good example of eyes that are more blue than green.
Why Smart People Make Dumb Money Mistakes
Why Smart People Make Dumb Money Mistakes
We are programmed to get our money decisions wrong. But we can still win
Monika Halan and Rajesh Kumar / Outlookmoney.com
The house I did not buy at Rs 46 lakh three years back now costs Rs 1.1 crore.
The Rs 5,000 I put in a mutual fund three years ago is now worth Rs 15,000. I regret not putting in Rs 5 lakh.
The best-performing fund slipped as soon as I bought it.
I sell a stock after holding it for years, and it begins to fly like a kite the day I sell it.
My neighbour got a super price for his land; I did not for mine.
I have the wrong insurance policy, but am holding on to it.
The price of my car dropped a week after I bought it.
I feel unlucky with my financial decisions. Here I am, a perfectly normal sort of a person with a good job, a great family, in control of most of my life. Except for one thought that rankles in my overall feeling of well-being. I feel that I constantly take financial decisions that are not so cool.
If you find any of the above even a little bit familiar, take heart, most of us feel exactly the same way. Did you know that the human mind is programmed to fall into some behavioural traps that cost us big money? A relatively new branch of Economics, called Behavioural Finance, lays down a paradigm that is different from traditional Economics, where all people were rational, all economic choices were the best possible, and markets were mostly in equilibrium. This meant there was a perfect world out there, where men were calculating machines with zero emotions such as fear, greed, regret and anticipation, and with perfect information about all products, services and prices at all points of time. But when psychologist-economist Daniel Kahneman won the 2002 Nobel Prize for his work in Behavioural Finance, this more real branch of Economics came centrestage. And it is now accepted that the human mind is programmed to make big money mistakes due to habit—and emotion-driven actions. Though the scope of behavioural finance is much wider, we shortlist the five most common behaviour patterns that most often cost you a lot of money. And tell what you can do to sidestep these traps.
Mental Accounting
We tend to use mental short-cuts to decode everyday life. These rules of thumb make us put money into different mental accounts, preventing us from seeing the overall picture. Sometimes this works to our advantage—putting money in sacrosanct mental buckets like insurance premiums, tax saving instruments, and so on. But sometimes these buckets cause harm. How do you use the money that a money-back insurance policy throws up periodically? Most people tend to blow up that money instead of treating it as a return on their investment to be used to meet a financial goal, or for further investing. Similarly, a dividend, or tax refund is often used frivolously by ordinarily responsible people. A good way to get over this is to quickly bank the cheque and wait for some time. This waiting period can allow mental accounting to kick in so that we treat this money as part of our savings and not something to be blown up.
Mental accounting does not snare us only while spending, it traps us into sub-optimal investing decisions as well. While working out overall asset allocation, we forget to include the provident fund, the Public Provident Fund and endowment insurance polices in the process because they are not seen as part of our decision-making process but as something that’s pre-decided. We then divide the rest of the surplus money between debt and equity. No wonder that the average equity in household savings is a mere 5 per cent, the rest going into debt products (Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy, Reserve Bank of India). Since equity has given an average annual return of over 16 per cent in the last 26 years, such mental blocks bring down our capacity to create wealth by leaving too much in low-return instruments.
Way out. So, do remember to look at your total savings—fixed and unfixed. Take a look at the full asset allocation pie and then divide your funds between debt and equity.
Loss Aversion and Sunk Cost
We hate to lose. The distress that each lost rupee causes is twice as high as the pleasure we get from each rupee gained. This is actually good because it prevents us from gambling away our retirement funds or the money we save for our kids’ education. But there is a big flipside to this. We tend to hold on to the wrong consumer and financial products. Why? Because the act of throwing the rotten thing out would bring home the loss and make us ‘feel’ dumb. To prevent that feeling, we stuff new but tight shoes at the bottom of the shoe rack, and a new but useless mixer-juicer at the back of the kitchen cupboard. Similarly, you hold on to losing shares and funds. People who invested Rs 10,000 in Bajaj Hindustan, a sugar stock, in May 2006, would be left with just Rs 2,943 today. If, on the other hand, they had cut losses and moved the money to the Sensex even after losing 25 per cent at the end of May 2006, their investment would be at Rs 11,000 today.
Use the loss aversion argument carefully, for it does not work for fundamentally sound stocks. Sometimes an overall fall in the market brings down the price of strong stocks. That, in fact, is the time to buy more rather than book losses.
Linked to this is the sunk cost trait. We go on putting good money after bad in, say, car or washing machine repair. Aren’t we all familiar with spending recurrent amounts on ‘fixing it’ when a new appliance would have cost less? Loss aversion looks nasty when we see what it does to our investment behaviour. Take, for example, our fetish for buying a new insurance policy every year. The only life cover one needs is a term plan, but the agent keeps selling you a useless policy every year. But do you discontinue the 4-per-cent-return money-back and endowment polices even when you discover that they are garbage? Most people continue paying premiums and say they are doing so because they have already invested for a few years.
Way out. The first mantra is to learn to cut losses and move on, but it should be used selectively for investments and products that are genuine losers. The second strategy is to have a well-diversified portfolio. It would be less subject to such mental traps as it would be more stable than individual stocks or funds.
Status Quo Bias and Regret Aversion
Since we hate to lose, we go to great lengths to avoid the feeling of regret and don’t want to take on the responsibility of a wrong financial decision. This is called regret aversion. In the ‘Status Quo Bias and Regret Aversion’ test (on the left), the two people are in the same situation, but the second person feels worse because he blames himself for a wrong financial decision.
Having been through many situations where our financial decisions were proven wrong (selling a stock just before it became a kite, buying a house at the tail end of a property bubble, buying a gadget to see its price halving a week later), we fall into the status quo bias trap, or the desire not to change anything much with our financial lives so that we don’t get to a position where we regret taking faulty financial decision.
Several cash-poor but asset-rich senior citizens fall into this category. Some of them are 100 per cent invested in debt instruments and real estate. They see real estate and stock prices zooming, but are unable to take the call of selling some of the real estate they are holding selectively to get more cash and invest the rest in stocks. They feel that real estate prices may go higher and stockmarket investments may go wrong anytime.
Way out. An overall asset allocation and portfolio diversification approach makes us look at portfolio return rather than individual product returns.
Anchoring
This is when we hang on to a number, fact or return figure that has no bearing on the overall investment or spending decision. When property prices began zooming up in 2003, some of us postponed our purchase decision till they ‘settled down’. We watched prices rise more than 100 per cent without doing anything, for we were ‘anchored’ to the earlier prices. While this sort of anchoring can really break a family’s wealth creation stride, a smaller, but more insidious hurt comes in the monthly grocery bill. You may have seen this sale gimmick: ‘Cheap Basmati Rice: 5-kg bag now selling at Rs 210, down from Rs 350’. But this is Rs 42 a kg on sale, down from Rs 70 a kg. You anyway get basmati rice at Rs 40-42 a kg. When we buy more or unnecessary products and services because they are ‘cheaper’ or ‘free’, we use up money that could have been used for wealth creation. A simple way out it to use the calculator to break ‘sale’ prices down to per kg or per gram or per litre to skip the anchoring trap.
Another example is a stock going at, say, Rs 1,500 that someone recommends. You consider buying it, but don’t. When it reaches Rs 1,800, and you see that the company is going great guns, you say, “I should have bought it at Rs 1,500”. That you didn’t is one mistake, another would be to not buy it at Rs 1,800. You could fall into this trap while renting out your house. You may want the older, higher rent for your property even when overall rents have gone down. As a result, you may forego rent while still paying tax on the imputed rental on the second home.
Way out. To beat this mental trap, you can look for a current benchmark and not the one that is implicitly suggested, or even better, look at a realistic lifetime return that will make you happy. This is specially useful while evaluating the performance of your portfolio, fund and, even, unit-linked insurance policy.
Money Illusion
We have a tendency to ignore the effect of inflation on our money choices. Take, for example, the way an average insurance agent sells you a policy. His pitch to you is: Put in Rs 1 lakh every year for 15 years and get back Rs 25 lakh. Sounds great, till you remove the money illusion. The annual return here is a nominal 6.9 per cent. Factor in inflation at 6 per cent and you are left with a return of just 0.9 per cent. Other fixed return instruments like fixed deposits (FDs) and bonds also fall prey to this trap. We think FDs are giving us 9 per cent return nowadays. But, at 6 per cent inflation, the real return is just 3 per cent. Allow taxes in and the return is even lower.
Way out. Look at returns after taking into account inflation and taxes. To get the real returns, consider all the costs and taxes that apply to an investment, then reduce the return rate by the expected inflation number—about 6 per cent in India. You will find then that the stockmarket index gives the best long-term, low-cost real return. If you had invested Rs 10,000 in the Sensex in 1979, it would be worth over Rs 12.6 lakh today; a bank FD would have fetched Rs 1.58 lakh on the same amount.
Another way money illusion hurts is when inflation keeps eroding the real value of a life or non-life cover. If we assume an inflation rate of 5 per cent, a 25-year life cover of Rs 10 lakh would be half as effective after 15 years since Rs 10 lakh then would be able to buy only what Rs 5 lakh does today. This is one reason why our insurance covers need periodic reviews.
You can be more in control of your financial life if you know the traps that you are programmed to fall into. The real challenge is to use these five behaviour traits as two-way weapons. Wherever possible, use their good points to your advantage, while being careful about their stings. Let not your financial journey be one of remorse and regrets, but of hope and conquests.
With reports from Anagh PAL, Kayezad E. Adajania, Pankaj Anup Toppo and SUNIL DHAWAN
We are programmed to get our money decisions wrong. But we can still win
Monika Halan and Rajesh Kumar / Outlookmoney.com
The house I did not buy at Rs 46 lakh three years back now costs Rs 1.1 crore.
The Rs 5,000 I put in a mutual fund three years ago is now worth Rs 15,000. I regret not putting in Rs 5 lakh.
The best-performing fund slipped as soon as I bought it.
I sell a stock after holding it for years, and it begins to fly like a kite the day I sell it.
My neighbour got a super price for his land; I did not for mine.
I have the wrong insurance policy, but am holding on to it.
The price of my car dropped a week after I bought it.
I feel unlucky with my financial decisions. Here I am, a perfectly normal sort of a person with a good job, a great family, in control of most of my life. Except for one thought that rankles in my overall feeling of well-being. I feel that I constantly take financial decisions that are not so cool.
If you find any of the above even a little bit familiar, take heart, most of us feel exactly the same way. Did you know that the human mind is programmed to fall into some behavioural traps that cost us big money? A relatively new branch of Economics, called Behavioural Finance, lays down a paradigm that is different from traditional Economics, where all people were rational, all economic choices were the best possible, and markets were mostly in equilibrium. This meant there was a perfect world out there, where men were calculating machines with zero emotions such as fear, greed, regret and anticipation, and with perfect information about all products, services and prices at all points of time. But when psychologist-economist Daniel Kahneman won the 2002 Nobel Prize for his work in Behavioural Finance, this more real branch of Economics came centrestage. And it is now accepted that the human mind is programmed to make big money mistakes due to habit—and emotion-driven actions. Though the scope of behavioural finance is much wider, we shortlist the five most common behaviour patterns that most often cost you a lot of money. And tell what you can do to sidestep these traps.
Mental Accounting
We tend to use mental short-cuts to decode everyday life. These rules of thumb make us put money into different mental accounts, preventing us from seeing the overall picture. Sometimes this works to our advantage—putting money in sacrosanct mental buckets like insurance premiums, tax saving instruments, and so on. But sometimes these buckets cause harm. How do you use the money that a money-back insurance policy throws up periodically? Most people tend to blow up that money instead of treating it as a return on their investment to be used to meet a financial goal, or for further investing. Similarly, a dividend, or tax refund is often used frivolously by ordinarily responsible people. A good way to get over this is to quickly bank the cheque and wait for some time. This waiting period can allow mental accounting to kick in so that we treat this money as part of our savings and not something to be blown up.
Mental accounting does not snare us only while spending, it traps us into sub-optimal investing decisions as well. While working out overall asset allocation, we forget to include the provident fund, the Public Provident Fund and endowment insurance polices in the process because they are not seen as part of our decision-making process but as something that’s pre-decided. We then divide the rest of the surplus money between debt and equity. No wonder that the average equity in household savings is a mere 5 per cent, the rest going into debt products (Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy, Reserve Bank of India). Since equity has given an average annual return of over 16 per cent in the last 26 years, such mental blocks bring down our capacity to create wealth by leaving too much in low-return instruments.
Way out. So, do remember to look at your total savings—fixed and unfixed. Take a look at the full asset allocation pie and then divide your funds between debt and equity.
Loss Aversion and Sunk Cost
We hate to lose. The distress that each lost rupee causes is twice as high as the pleasure we get from each rupee gained. This is actually good because it prevents us from gambling away our retirement funds or the money we save for our kids’ education. But there is a big flipside to this. We tend to hold on to the wrong consumer and financial products. Why? Because the act of throwing the rotten thing out would bring home the loss and make us ‘feel’ dumb. To prevent that feeling, we stuff new but tight shoes at the bottom of the shoe rack, and a new but useless mixer-juicer at the back of the kitchen cupboard. Similarly, you hold on to losing shares and funds. People who invested Rs 10,000 in Bajaj Hindustan, a sugar stock, in May 2006, would be left with just Rs 2,943 today. If, on the other hand, they had cut losses and moved the money to the Sensex even after losing 25 per cent at the end of May 2006, their investment would be at Rs 11,000 today.
Use the loss aversion argument carefully, for it does not work for fundamentally sound stocks. Sometimes an overall fall in the market brings down the price of strong stocks. That, in fact, is the time to buy more rather than book losses.
Linked to this is the sunk cost trait. We go on putting good money after bad in, say, car or washing machine repair. Aren’t we all familiar with spending recurrent amounts on ‘fixing it’ when a new appliance would have cost less? Loss aversion looks nasty when we see what it does to our investment behaviour. Take, for example, our fetish for buying a new insurance policy every year. The only life cover one needs is a term plan, but the agent keeps selling you a useless policy every year. But do you discontinue the 4-per-cent-return money-back and endowment polices even when you discover that they are garbage? Most people continue paying premiums and say they are doing so because they have already invested for a few years.
Way out. The first mantra is to learn to cut losses and move on, but it should be used selectively for investments and products that are genuine losers. The second strategy is to have a well-diversified portfolio. It would be less subject to such mental traps as it would be more stable than individual stocks or funds.
Status Quo Bias and Regret Aversion
Since we hate to lose, we go to great lengths to avoid the feeling of regret and don’t want to take on the responsibility of a wrong financial decision. This is called regret aversion. In the ‘Status Quo Bias and Regret Aversion’ test (on the left), the two people are in the same situation, but the second person feels worse because he blames himself for a wrong financial decision.
Having been through many situations where our financial decisions were proven wrong (selling a stock just before it became a kite, buying a house at the tail end of a property bubble, buying a gadget to see its price halving a week later), we fall into the status quo bias trap, or the desire not to change anything much with our financial lives so that we don’t get to a position where we regret taking faulty financial decision.
Several cash-poor but asset-rich senior citizens fall into this category. Some of them are 100 per cent invested in debt instruments and real estate. They see real estate and stock prices zooming, but are unable to take the call of selling some of the real estate they are holding selectively to get more cash and invest the rest in stocks. They feel that real estate prices may go higher and stockmarket investments may go wrong anytime.
Way out. An overall asset allocation and portfolio diversification approach makes us look at portfolio return rather than individual product returns.
Anchoring
This is when we hang on to a number, fact or return figure that has no bearing on the overall investment or spending decision. When property prices began zooming up in 2003, some of us postponed our purchase decision till they ‘settled down’. We watched prices rise more than 100 per cent without doing anything, for we were ‘anchored’ to the earlier prices. While this sort of anchoring can really break a family’s wealth creation stride, a smaller, but more insidious hurt comes in the monthly grocery bill. You may have seen this sale gimmick: ‘Cheap Basmati Rice: 5-kg bag now selling at Rs 210, down from Rs 350’. But this is Rs 42 a kg on sale, down from Rs 70 a kg. You anyway get basmati rice at Rs 40-42 a kg. When we buy more or unnecessary products and services because they are ‘cheaper’ or ‘free’, we use up money that could have been used for wealth creation. A simple way out it to use the calculator to break ‘sale’ prices down to per kg or per gram or per litre to skip the anchoring trap.
Another example is a stock going at, say, Rs 1,500 that someone recommends. You consider buying it, but don’t. When it reaches Rs 1,800, and you see that the company is going great guns, you say, “I should have bought it at Rs 1,500”. That you didn’t is one mistake, another would be to not buy it at Rs 1,800. You could fall into this trap while renting out your house. You may want the older, higher rent for your property even when overall rents have gone down. As a result, you may forego rent while still paying tax on the imputed rental on the second home.
Way out. To beat this mental trap, you can look for a current benchmark and not the one that is implicitly suggested, or even better, look at a realistic lifetime return that will make you happy. This is specially useful while evaluating the performance of your portfolio, fund and, even, unit-linked insurance policy.
Money Illusion
We have a tendency to ignore the effect of inflation on our money choices. Take, for example, the way an average insurance agent sells you a policy. His pitch to you is: Put in Rs 1 lakh every year for 15 years and get back Rs 25 lakh. Sounds great, till you remove the money illusion. The annual return here is a nominal 6.9 per cent. Factor in inflation at 6 per cent and you are left with a return of just 0.9 per cent. Other fixed return instruments like fixed deposits (FDs) and bonds also fall prey to this trap. We think FDs are giving us 9 per cent return nowadays. But, at 6 per cent inflation, the real return is just 3 per cent. Allow taxes in and the return is even lower.
Way out. Look at returns after taking into account inflation and taxes. To get the real returns, consider all the costs and taxes that apply to an investment, then reduce the return rate by the expected inflation number—about 6 per cent in India. You will find then that the stockmarket index gives the best long-term, low-cost real return. If you had invested Rs 10,000 in the Sensex in 1979, it would be worth over Rs 12.6 lakh today; a bank FD would have fetched Rs 1.58 lakh on the same amount.
Another way money illusion hurts is when inflation keeps eroding the real value of a life or non-life cover. If we assume an inflation rate of 5 per cent, a 25-year life cover of Rs 10 lakh would be half as effective after 15 years since Rs 10 lakh then would be able to buy only what Rs 5 lakh does today. This is one reason why our insurance covers need periodic reviews.
You can be more in control of your financial life if you know the traps that you are programmed to fall into. The real challenge is to use these five behaviour traits as two-way weapons. Wherever possible, use their good points to your advantage, while being careful about their stings. Let not your financial journey be one of remorse and regrets, but of hope and conquests.
With reports from Anagh PAL, Kayezad E. Adajania, Pankaj Anup Toppo and SUNIL DHAWAN
Wake up - it's end of summer of holiday's
August 2007 is coming to an end. So fast the summer holidays got over. You don't believe it - Look what the date palm trees tell you. From the time it flowers, it tells you that your summer holidays are here and the summer is near by, and to the time it grows in full when it tells you to pluck it and take it home to give to your loved ones, and to the time it fully ripen and falls down, when it indicates that your holidays are over and it's time to get back to serious work once again. It also tells you that the Holy month of Ramadan is nearing and get ready for a period of religious fervour. Yes, it's just another way of natures signage to warn you the seasonal changes and the activities ongoing and ahead.
Sunday, August 19, 2007
UAE Essentials - Enrolling at university
Enrolling at university
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter/GULF NEWS Published: August 10, 2007, 23:43
Dubai: The UAE offers a wide-range of courses at its various universities. Academic programmes here include diplomas, degrees as well as post-graduate studies.
A student may also enrol for professional training to gain an internationally recognised certificate. Most of the universities in the UAE are open to both citizens and expatriate residents and foreign students.
Some colleges and universities in the UAE are open only for Emiratis such as the UAE University in Al Ain and the Higher Colleges of Technology. All the other universities, colleges and educational institutions are open to everyone.
Expatriate students can be admitted to universities here if they hold a General Secondary School Certificate and they should obtain required amount of marks in the high school certificate exams for admissions. Universities usually start their academic year in September.
The UAE educational system comprises of a variety of academic institutions and training institutes that offer programmes in various fields.
There are a few government universities and colleges in the country where admission is restricted to Emiratis only.
But the enrolment at many of the several private educational institutions is open to any student of any nationality from any country who meets the admission requirements of that specific university.
Students can also choose any programme and enrol in it. Those programmes are depending on the academic, technical and professional degree the students select.
If one wanted to apply at any university, college or educational institution here, he or she should choose the programmes they are interested in, depending on their marks.
The first step for the student is to be sure that the institution is willing to accept you. The institution will review the student's academic background to determine if he or she is likely to succeed in its programme.
Each UAE institution sets its own admission standards. Some practices are common to many institutions; however, under-graduate and graduate admissions to the universities may vary from one institution to the other, also from one programme of study to another.
Student's visa
Students who are living abroad can obtain a student's visa and study at one of the universities in the country.
To enrol in an university here, the student visa is provided by all colleges and universities and also a few training institutes.
Some institutions may require all admission procedures and fees to be paid before visa issuance procedures can be started. Visa issuance procedure at the naturalisation department normally takes 10 to 30 days.
The administrative expense for a student visa is around Dh1,500 for a 3-year visa.
Some of the open universities
-Zayed University (ZU), which has campuses in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which was earlier for Emirati women only.
-American University of Sharjah (AUS).
-American University of Dubai (AUD).
-Sharjah University.
-Ajman University of Science and Technology.
-Abu Dhabi University (ADU), which opened its doors in 2003.
-Al Ain University, which accepted its first students for the academic year beginning in September 2006.
-Al Hosn University in Abu Dhabi, opened in 2005. This new private university, which is supported by Abu Dhabi Holding Company (ADHC), will initially be operating from two separate premises for men and women. Starting with three faculties — Engineering, Business and Arts and Social Sciences — Al Hosn University will offer a unique set of disciplines, some of which are being introduced for the first time in the UAE.
-Abu Dhabi chapter of the Sorbonne University established in 2006.
-Dubai multi-university complex in Knowledge Village, established in 2003 in the Dubai Free Zone for Technology and Media, houses more than 200 companies and institutes for training and education. It offers undergraduate, postgraduate, MBA and PhD programmes in fields such as computing, technology, business management, life science, fashion and media.
In addition, there are also several professional and technical institutions such as the Emirates Institute for Banking and Finance, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Career Development Centre, the Dubai School of Government, and The Emirates Aviation College for Aerospace and Academic Studies.
UAE Essentials - Ensuring welfare of all in the country
Ensuring welfare of all in the country
By Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporter/GULF NEWS Published: August 18, 2007, 00:04
Dubai: UAE as an Islamic country is keen on protecting human rights and to treat people equally and without prejudice and considers the welfare of all people here as its top priority.
The country's constitution contains a number of rights and the various aspects of freedom residents can enjoy.
So whether you are an Emirati, an expatriate living in the UAE for many years or whether you are on short visit to the country, all your rights are protected.
If your rights are violated in any way by another person, company or institution, whether government or private, there are places you can approach to get a helping hand.
Labour dispute
If you are either an unskilled labourer or an educated employee working for any organisation in the private sector here which violated your rights, you can visit the labour department if you are living in Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah or Umm Al Quwain.
The labour dispute section will sort out the problem with the employer whatever the problem is. If the case is not solved, it will be transferred to the court.
If you are in Dubai, you will have more options such as complaining to the labour dispute section at the Ministry of Labour or the Labour Court, and you can call the hotline of the Permanent Labour Committee.
You can also approach the Dubai Police Human Rights Department, which sometimes accept cases from outside the emirate.
Employees in Abu Dhabi can complain directly to the Labour Ministry at the Labour Dispute Section in case they feel their rights are violated in any way. The case will be studied and the problem sorted out, or if it cannot be done, it will be transferred to the court.
In addition to that, workers and employees of government or public departments can also approach any of the police stations or courts in his or her emirate who can help and guide them.
Emirati employees can complain at Tanmia, regarding issues which offend their rights at work. This organisation takes care of not only getting employment for Emiratis but also follows up their issues.
Tenants
Tenants who have problems with their landlords in any emirate, can approach the Municipality Rent Dispute Committee to file complaints. The Committee will study the case and a decision will be taken to help protect the tenant's rights.
If a woman is abused or tortured by relatives, the husband or family members, a newly-formed organisation, the Dubai Abused Women and Children's Organisation, will be able to help soon, or by a similar named body in Abu Dhabi.
Some expatriate communities here have set up their own charity foundations, such as the Indian community, Egyptian and others. Such foundations are licensed by the authorities here.
Long arm of the law
The National Committee to Combat Human Trafficking and the anti-human trafficking department at the Dubai Police are open to receive complaints from the public regarding cases related to recruitment, transportation, transfer or harbouring of illegal persons.
Cases they will look into also include holding people by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation.
Stiff penalties against human traffickers range from one year to life and include fines ranging between Dh20,000 up to Dh1 million. They may face life sentence if the trafficker has created, organised, run, assumed a leading role in, or solicited others to join an organised criminal gang, or if the victim was a female, child under 18 years, or special needs person .
One can call 999 for emergency. If one is calling from a mobile phone and want to contact 999 they should dial the code of the emirate they are contacting.
One can file a complaint online at the Human Rights Department on www.dubaipolice.gov.ae or contact 04-2692222; 04-2014342; 04-2014343; 04-2014344; 04-201434 or 04-2014346 or Fax: 04-2014180 or by mail to PO Box 1493 Dubai, UAE.
Useful numbers
Abu Dhabi Police: 02-4461461; Al Ain Police: 03-7079999; Dubai Police: 04-6099999; Sharjah Police: 06-5631111; Ajman Police: 06-7409999.
Saturday, August 18, 2007
Massive fire breaks out at Sharjah port
Massive fire breaks out at Sharjah port
By Sunita Menon and Bassma Al Jandaly, Staff Reporters/GULF NEWS Published: August 18, 2007, 01:28
Dubai: A massive fire raged on Friday night in Sharjah’s Port Khalid area, sending flames dozens of feet high.
The fire is believed to have started at a biscuit factory at the adjacent industrial area and spread to a depot of Emirates Lube Oil Company in the port, police and eyewitnesses said.
"We heard a loud explosion and soon a huge fire broke out," an eyewitness told Gulf News.
Police said the fire started at around 11pm. Police immediately cordoned off the area around the depot and sealed all entry points on the Creek.
Firefighters and Civil Defence officers from Sharjah as well as Dubai and Ajman rushed to the spot to battle the blaze.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or estimated damages. Civil defence workers were fighting the blaze at the time of going to press.
Friday, August 17, 2007
System to monitor ministries
System to monitor ministries
Gulf News Report/Published: July 14, 2007, 23:31
Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has announced the setting up of a special team of "mystery clients" and an integrated system of performance management to monitor ministries' achievements and ensure proper implementation of the federal government strategy.
The announcement was made at a Cabinet meeting, held in an informal setting in Dadna in Fujairah yesterday, and was attended by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister.
The two-day Cabinet meeting reflects Shaikh Mohammad's keenness to adopt a flexible approach in government administration and follow up the progress of work on the government strategy that was approved by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan in April.
The Cabinet reviewed the strategic action plans for 2008-2010 along with creative initiatives and key programmes adopted by ministries to achieve the strategy's goals.
Shaikh Mohammad expressed satisfaction at the team spirit demonstrated by the ministerial working groups and termed it one of the most significant achievements of the strategy.
He also stressed the need to implement programmes and initiatives according to the specified timeframes and keep updating them to achieve better results and keep pace with the UAE's rapid economic growth in the last few years.
During the meeting, Shaikh Mohammad announced that an integrated system is being developed to keep track of the performance of all ministries and ensure that the strategy's recommendations are being implemented.
The Prime Minister's Office was tasked with preparing the performance reports which will be submitted to Shaikh Mohammad.
Stress on e-governance
As part of the system, a special team of "mystery clients" - government officials whose identity will not be disclosed - will be formed to monitor performance of ministries, and will directly report to Shaikh Mohammad.
He also called for widening the e-government programme and bringing 50 per cent of public services into e-services by the end of 2008 and 90 per cent by the end of 2010. He urged ministries to work towards achieving at least 70 per cent customer satisfaction.
Key decisions: What the Cabinet decided to implement
Establish an integrated system for performance management
Set up a special team of mystery clients
Implement action plans of government strategy within specified timetables
Widen e-government programmes and converting 50 per cent of public services into online services by 2008
Achieve 70 per cent of customer satisfaction for all ministries
2m passengers to use water buses
2m passengers to use water buses
By Ashfaq Ahmed, Staff Reporter/GULF NEWS Published: August 16, 2007, 23:12
Dubai: The first route of the water bus linking Al Sabkha Station in Deira with Al Gubaiba Station in Bur Dubai was launched on Thursday.
The water bus service is part of the Roads and Transport Authority's (RTA) strategic plan to provide an alternative mode of water transport to commuters.
The service is also part of the first phase of the marine public transport project launched by the Marine Agency of the RTA, which has earmarked Dh1.5 billion to have integrated water transport services to implement its marine transport strategic plan 2020.
Passengers
"More than two million passengers are expected to use water buses during the first year of its operation. The number is expected to grow to six million in the future with the introduction of more buses," said Khalid Al Zayed, Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Marine Agency at the RTA.
He said the water bus will complement the existing traditional Abra service on the Dubai Creek. Around 20 million passengers use the Abra service every year.
The water bus will also be used by passengers to cross the creek. But unlike Abras, the water bus is air-conditioned and has comfortable seating with safety features. It can be used by people with special needs.
However, passengers using the Abra pay only Dh1 to cross the creek while they will have to pay Dh4 for the same journey but in the comfort of air-conditioning.
Initially, 10 water buses will operate on four routes serving five stations on both sides of the Dubai Creek.
It will be run from five stations including: Sabkha and Baniyas on the Deira side of the creek and Al Gubaiba, Dubai Old Souq and Al Seef Street stations on the Bur Dubai side.
The first route was launched yesterday whereas the three other routes will be operational from September.
Eight out of 10 buses will be used for passengers to cross the creek while two water buses will be reserved for tourists. The water bus for tourists will be available from Al Seef Station every 30 minutes.
Integrated plan
They will operate seven days a week for 17 hours every day from 6am to 11pm with 10 minutes headway time between trips during morning peak hours from 7am to 9am and 15 minutes interval during off peak hours.
Al Zahed said: "The water transport is part of the integrated public transport plan to curb traffic congestion on roads. It will serve the congested central business districts of Deira and Bur Dubai."
According to RTA studies, Dubai's coastline has increased from 70km to 360km due to new off shore developments such as Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali, The World, The Business Bay and the Dubai Water Front.
The studies project that around 62 million people are expected to use the public water transport by 2020.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)