UAE’s Higher Colleges of Technology: A model of sustainable leadership

  • Date: 04-Apr-2021
  • Source: Arabian Business
  • Sector:Technology
  • Country:UAE
  • Who else needs to know?

UAE’s Higher Colleges of Technology: A model of sustainable leadership

Sustainability is a concept at the heart of the UAE's development goals. While the country's Vision 2021 National Agenda focuses on air quality, water resources, clean energy infrastructure and green growth plans, the National Climate Change Plan of the UAE (2017 — 2050) outlines a framework for achieving these sustainability development goals (SDGs).

With a staff and student body of more than 25,000 and over 67,000 alumni, the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) is the UAE's largest applied higher education institution, and uniquely positioned to help the country meet its SDGs, says Dr Abdullatif Al Shamsi, president and CEO of HCT. “It is my role to oversee such projects and ensure that we are at the vanguard of innovation in educational practices, which includes the adoption of sustainability practices and principles.

“Our sustainability goals, which are mapped to the National Agenda, are a set of social, economic and environmental objectives that the international community has committed to achieve by 2030. The SDG framework consists of 17 goals, of which HCT has already achieved “Good Health and Well Being” and “Life on Land”.

With the pandemic forcing investors to reassess their priorities, Lombard Odier's Arnaud Leclercq and Christopher Kaminker explore how sustainability trends are