His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, today launched a new scheme to provide Dubai’s top performing high school students with financial rewards and academic sponsorship.

Under the new scheme, which applies to graduates from Dubai’s public and private schools, expatriate students who qualify as “outstanding”, and their families, will be granted priority in receiving golden visas. They will also receive special discounts to study at Dubai’s reputable international universities set up in the freezones.

The first batch of top performing students to receive the recognition and rewards in the new rewards scheme will include 50 students and will be announced in September 2022 ahead of the upcoming academic year.

Commenting on the new initiative, His Highness Sheikh Hamdan, said: “Today, we have adopted a new scheme to support and encourage Dubai’s top students. By recognising and incentivising our best academic performers, we are proactively seeking to meet the demands of Dubai’s future job market.

His Highness continued: “To become a truly globally competitive economy that is driven by local talent, we must help enhance the skills and expertise required by tomorrow’s labour market. We can do this by maximising Emiratisation rates in alignment with our national guidelines for human development in the UAE.”

He added: “We must continuously support our students and push them to improve. We must give them a constant source of hope and inspiration that they can achieve outstanding results in their future careers, they can reach the very top positions in any number of vital sectors.”

The direction embodies the vision championed by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, which considers the empowerment of future generations as the key to unlocking Dubai’s future sustainable economic development.

Consequently, a unified system has been developed to honour students from various curricula and grading systems in Dubai. This new scheme represents a roadmap to motivate high school students to excel academically, be creative, and innovative, while providing the essential means to achieve their future aspirations.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan also thanked parents for their continuous efforts and for pushing their children to achieve excellence. He also extended his appreciation to teachers for their tireless efforts to equip Dubai’s students with the tools and knowledge to succeed in tomorrow’s world.

On his part, His Excellency Eng. Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Chairman of the Emirati Human Resources Development Council in Dubai, expressed his appreciation of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan’s launch of the new programme to recognise and support Dubai’s top students, in line with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed.

His Excellency Sultan Al Mansouri said: “The new scheme for rewarding and supporting top students will play a key role in developing Emirati human capital in the private sector, which supports the strategic objectives of the Emirati Human Resources Development Council in Dubai, to ensure that the educational outputs of Emirati students are aligned with the requirements of the labour market, according to the strategic priority sectors.”

He added: “This programme will provide an advanced framework for the integration of education, professional qualifications and training outcomes demanded by the rapidly evolving labour market in Dubai.”