My week in Dubai

Last week it was a pleasure to meet so many staff, students, and some business partners during my time in Dubai.

I try to ensure I spend a week operating from different country sites from time to time. Last week coincided with the 10^th University Highland Games, which is organised by the Student Council team at Heriot-Watt. Sixteen universities took part and the competition was intense, with sports of traditional and more modern types. I was pleased to present the prizes and to present the overall winner prize to, yes, Heriot-Watt!
Partying continued into the night.

I was hosted by years 1-4 of the Architecture students

This programme was initiated by colleagues in Dubai and has grown fast. Last year they led the design and construction of the amazing ORA house, if you have not seen this astonishing story I recommend you take a look .

It was good to see how the design ethos and learning developed through the four years of the programme and what amazing creativity there is in architectural and interior design. Dubai is so vibrant in its creation of ambitious buildings and spaces. The city is a landscape where these designs can be put into practice. There is also a strong interest to look at Arabic and African cityscapes.  Thanks to the students for sharing their passion for sustainable design of space in which humans can thrive. It reminded me of how we are literally thinking about designing living and workspaces where human soul can flourish, this is so very much aligned with our University strategy!

Amongst my formal welcomes, I was pleased to host visits to the campus from the Scottish Government’s UAE Trade Envoy and the (new) UK Ambassador. The Scottish Trade Envoy updated me about trends in the trading relationship between Scotland, UAE and nearby nations. We spent some time discussing the UAE Government’s priorities for investment and talent development, which includes space, artificial intelligence, robotics, health and logistics, the arts, sport and tourism. We also talked about educational standards, accreditation, safety and policing. The UK Ambassador provided us with information on UK government relations and plans and we were able to discuss partnering approaches with artificial intelligence with the Government. This is of interest as we connect our nascent Robotarium centre and GRID into areas of expertise in UAE such as digital construction and design.

Student life is at a very high energy level on the campus. I will write, in a later blog, a piece about the impact of the Student Partnership Agreement following an overview I had in discussion with Antony D’Santos, Student President of the Dubai campus. Sport plays a very big part in life and it was good to see new clubs such as Athletics (which actually contained a number of national level stars) and the Art and Writing Club. Students kindly shared some of their individual stories with me, and the literal highpoint was from Accounting & Finance (Hons) student Anil Babu, who with friends proudly took Heriot-Watt regalia to the Everest Base Camp just a few weeks ago.

Well done and I am pleased that the Heriot-Watt flags and plaque are still to be found there.

The visit of the Pope to UAE last week underscored the UAE Government’s pledge to demonstrate a clear policy of fraternity in expression of belief and abhorrence to extremism founded on religious belief. This mood and direction is clearly endorse by residents in UAE. As work on the Expo2020 continues, twenty five million visitors are expected to see what promises to be a true world-on-world exhibition of culture and trade. Heriot-Watt has opportunities to be embedded in different aspects of this celebration showcase.

So overall, it was good to see a thriving environment in Dubai and also thanks to the staff who participated in my Let’s Talk session… I learned a good deal about your important priorities and ideas.

Professor Richard A. Williams
Principal and Vice-Chancellor