UAE Minister: 'Private Sector Must Invest More in Education'

The private sector needs to dip into its pockets to support the education sector according to a senior UAE government minister.

Speaking at the Global Education and Skills Forum in Dubai on Sunday HE Marwan Al Sawaleh said there were still “big opportunities for the private sector” to contribute to education globally.

He said that figures showed private sector investment in education in 2012 was 0.1 percent globally, “I don’t believe the contribution is sufficient,” he told delegates . “The private sector is benefiting from skilled human resources, however the benefits are not seen really in the world – still we need more to come.”

Another speaker at the event Dr Rebecca Winthrop, a senior fellow and director at the US Brookings Institution, warned against an over-reliance on the private sector within education.  The development of a solid infrastructure by government was necessary in case of the private sector withdrawing from a particular sector or where the pursuit of profit became an over-riding priority.