Tag: UAE

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Is the UAE the New Higher Education Destination Hotspot?

It has been quite some time since I posted a blog entry on Hoke’s Notes, in fact since 2011, so why am I writing now?  What seems to have motivated me is an increasing interest to comment on the evolution of education partiularily higher education, throughout the Middle East and what is happening in the UAE . In addition I now have additional outlets to post the blog through my social media sites including www.deanhoke.com.

My wife and I have lived in Abu Dhabi since February 2009 and are working in the higher education sector. I have been fortunate enough to get to know many of the UAE institutions faculty and staff over these years and the education and research community in the GCC and Middle East. Where I am going to take this blog in the upcoming months is to report and comment on education in the Middle East.

Is the UAE the New Higher Education Destination Hotspot?

In a recently published study by Deloitte commissioned by the Dubai Knowledge and Human Development Authority, the UAE was named by 7% the 2,500 students surveyed as their preferred education destination. The students who responded were from 17 Middle East and Asian countries. Ranking ahead of the UAE were the US at 27%, the United Kingdom at 20% and Canada at 14%.

Deloitte, which conducted the study in conjunction with TECOM Investments’ Education Cluster stated, “Significantly, the UAE scored higher than other emerging education hubs in students’ estimation of their preferred destination for higher education and is perceived to be the most attractive destination for higher education in the region.”

The United Arab Emirates has about 100 post secondary institutions spread throughout the Emirates but with the largest concentrations in Dubai followed by Abu Dhabi. In terms of population, an estimated 8 million people live in the UAE of which 1 million are UAE Nationals.  Almost all higher education institutions teach in English.  Throughout the UAE, an estimated 125,000 students are enrolled in these 102 schools, which means the remaining emirates have 49 institutions with 77,000 enrollments and Dubai has 53 schools with 48,000 enrolled. Dubai has captured 52% of the total number of institutions and approximately 38% of the overall students. In the Dubai area, Emirati students make up the largest group 20,640 (43%), followed by Asian students (21%). Compared to 2011, there have been substantial increases in the numbers of African and Arab students according to the Knowledge and Human Development Authority. According to the UAE National Bureau of Statistics, 27,909 Emirati students graduated in the 2010-2011 UAE academic year, leaving the opportunity for international universities and vocational training institutes with solid English language preparatory programs and targeted programs to gain in enrollment.

When I arrived in the UAE in 2009 it appeared that the expansion of schools would slow down due to the failures of George Mason University in Ras al-Khaimah (RAK) which was taken over by American University in RAK and Michigan State University which has 30 students left. However the Dubai region has seen significant growth and Abu Dhabi is growing at a slower pace due to its more conservative policy in permitting new sites.

Why do Middle East/Asian students rank the UAE as the 4th most desirable region to go to school and #1 outside of the UK and North America? First the TECOM, which runs Dubai Academic Village and Dubai Knowledge Village, has been aggressively marketing to potential international university suitors who want to expand its schools in the region. TECOM has a solid infrastructure in place and a clear vision of who they are and what they can provide. A second reason may well be that a rival such as Qatar is not the market for branch campuses but rather universities with strong brand names who will set-up focused programs such as diplomacy, journalism, engineering, etc.  That explains why universities will establish branch campuses in the UAE but the question remain why will students come to the UAE. You could take the view “if you build it, they will come” but it doesn’t always work as in the cases of George Mason or Michigan State.

I believe the primarily reason why students and parents with financial means would turn to the UAE over other parts in the non English speaking world is they will be safe. War is neither breaking out, nor Arab Spring and revolts as we seen in Egypt, Libya, Morocco Bahrain and countless other nations. It’s a vibrant area where you can enjoy the student experience. Students want to go to places where its exciting, meet new people, develop contacts and learn.

Its reasonable to assume the area while not prefect, is stable and tolerant. It has a diverse population, with many countries represented and a wide choice of schools to attend. I am not necessarily saying they are all “world class schools” that I will write about in a future blog. They have a well-established UAE accreditation body under the Higher Education Ministry of which 78 schools are approved, as well as the Dubai Knowledge and Human Development Authority, which does its own evaluation.

The UAE and in particular Dubai has positioned itself as a destination market similar to what India has done in the field of medical tourism. It’s an exciting marketplace where you can recruit UAE Nationals, the children of expats and attract high school graduates in other Middle Eastern nations, as well as Asia and Africa. The parents and the child can keep close to home, gain a decent education and most importantly, keep safe.

 I invite your comments and opinions. Let me know what your thinking.

 PS: To all horse racing fans, Happy Derby Day!

 

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Are Mystery Shoppers Really the Way to Improve Customer Service in the UAE?

I am amazed how poor customer service is in the UAE. Perhaps it’s because I am an American and I have set my standards too high.

A news story this summer about expat customers in the MENA region state that a survey concluded Americans have the highest expectations while citizens of India and Pakistan have much lower expectations. This may be the case, yet a vast majority of expats, no matter what the country, complain about overall service from telephone companies to retail stores in the UAE.
Senior management of these establishments are well aware of the continuous public complaints about indifferent clerks, the inability to deliver or repair an item or return or make an exchange of a product.

Solution, the Mystery Shopper!
The Mystery Shopper is very popular in the UAE and is according to Wikipedia “Mystery shopping was standard practice by the early 1940s as a way to measure employee integrity. Tools used for mystery shopping assessments range from simple questionnaires to complete audio and video recordings. Mystery shopping can be used in any industry, with the most common venues being retail stores, hotels, movie theaters, restaurants, fast food chains, banks, gas stations, car dealerships, apartments, health clubs and health care facilities.”
Mystery shoppers pose as customers in which they perform specific tasks, purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way – and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experiences. Once the report is given to management it is up to them to determine next steps.
In a June 4, 2010 article in The National reported there are thousands of mystery shoppers who “scour banks, shops and hotels across the Emirates every hour of every day, clandestinely monitoring the level of service offered to customers. It’s a service that has become crucial for companies vying for customer loyalty, in a world where people are watching what they spend and where they spend it.”
The article goes to state secret shoppers are “on the front lines, collecting the information and data that’s crucial to understanding the confusing retail and banking landscape.”
With this army of secret shoppers, untold numbers of reports are presented to highly educated members of management. Why is customer service still so poor across all industries?
Well, there are many studies and articles on how to improve customer service but I think the Kipp Report (The Middle East’s first online-only business magazine) states it best in there June 6, 2010 blog “Mystery shoppers? Let Kipp save you the bother:
“Kipp doesn’t think retailers need to invest too much money in hiring mystery shoppers, at least, not yet. Mystery shoppers are an incisive tool aimed at perfecting service in a mature and competent retail market. They can help bring excellence in a retail market of high standards. Here in the UAE, that’s a total waste.

Here’s what retailers need to know: Your customer service levels are, by and large, terrible. There are no strengths, and improvement can be made in every single area. The average customer’s opinion of the shopping experience is that it is a horrific trial of patience and endurance where the staff adds little or no value and the only redeeming aspect is the product.”
Kipp suggest four very basic ideas of which I believe point third is crucial.
1. TRAIN your staff so they know about the products they are selling. Why? It will help them sell more and it will be useful to the customer.
2. TRAIN your staff that following people around a store or hovering next to them constantly is not service, it’s stalking.
3. EMPOWER your staff to work on their initiative, so they could open an extra till when a queue builds up, for instance.
4. MORE does not equal better. Dozens of staff in one store does not equal good service (see point 1) particularly when they can’t follow point 3.
In my conversions with store managers and owners they believe the most effective method to improve customer service is to find the staff that are preforming below par, and weed them out. In some cases fire them, others yell, shame or discipline the staff member so they understand what they are doing wrong. In my years as a executive, I learned quickly it is management’s responsibility to properly train staff to know their products, how to work with customers, and to empower a staff member as much as reasonably possible to take the lead and find ways to solve the problem. This is not done by scaring the staff.
You can have a million secret shoppers but until proper training and empowerment by management and owners is put in place customer service will not improve. I’ll state the obvious, the happier the customer the more likely they are to return to your store and buy again. It is much more cost effective than slick ads or additional employees. Get more employees when you have more customers and do some training!