HCT is showing how technology can transform the traditional campus in the interest of employability : We learn from its visionary President and CEO
HIGHER COLLEGES OF TECHNOLOGY
HCT is showing how technology can transform the traditional campus in the interest of employability : We learn from its visionary President and CEO
H
igher Eduction Professor Abdullatif Al Shamsi , a leading intellectual and educationalist , is the President and CEO of the Higher Colleges of Technology ( HCT ), as well as holding the Chair of Engineering . From 2017 he has been the driving force behind the HCT 4.0 Strategic Plan , titled Employability and Beyond and inaugurated by UAE Prime Minister , Vice President , and Dubai ' s Ruler , Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in 2019 . An early initiative under the plan established on-campus Sector Skills Academies to provide students with multiple career pathways , coupled with flexible and agile workforce development programmes .
The plan offered Professional Certification Qualifications ( where students gain academic and professional qualifications concurrently ) and a Fast-Track degree system for high-achieving students to receive a bachelor ' s degree in three years . It pioneered the concept of ' Graduating Companies ' – awarding graduate status to start-up companies , not just individuals , with HCT becoming the first higher technical institution to create its own on-campus economic free trade zone . This is one of three core principles of HCT 4.0 , together with focusing on technical leadership , and empowering graduates to know that they are employable , and indeed have the potential to be innovators and entrepreneurs so that no Emirati would be left behind .
302 December 2021