New HCT chancellor praises his predecessor Sheikh Nahyan

Mohammed Omran Al Shamsi thanked his predecessor Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak during the address.

ABU DHABI // With the new academic year under way, the federal Higher Colleges of Technology welcomed Mohammed Omran Al Shamsi as its new chancellor.

The colleges had been under the leadership of Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak, the former Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, for 25 years

Addressing the staff at the HCT's annual convocation, Dr Al Shamsi thanked Sheikh Nahyan, now Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, for his work at the institution.

"Everyone in the UAE links the HCT with Sheikh Nahyan and I hope that as chancellor I will add a little extra to his achievements," he said.

Emiratisation efforts at the college have been raised under the new minister, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak, who has brought in five Emirati college heads to the federal institution.

Dr Mark Drummond, provost of HCT until this summer, said the problem is manpower.

"There is a very limited pool of UAE nationals with the depth of experience to deliver," he said.

A new education minister was not expected to have an immediate impact in the private sector.

Prof Abdullah Al Shamsi, head of the British University in Dubai and a veteran of the UAE education system, said he did not foresee any "drastic changes" in the foreseeable future.

"The ministry has laws which have been working for a good number of years and I don't think this will change drastically overnight," he said.

"If we witness change, it will be more of a transitional change but institutions like us won't be affected immediately. From a system point of view we will continue to do what we are doing. Talking from within institutions, the change might not be that drastic in the beginning. In two to three years' time we might see things change slowly, however."