BTEC Special Report: UAE rules that BTECs are equal to A-Levels for university entry. What does this mean for students? Updated with legislation in full.

In a passionately argued, and heartfelt article, GEMS Education’s Matthew James reports exclusively for SchoolsCompared on an exceptionally important milestone in UAE education announced today for current and future generations of children and young men and women. As BTEC is given the official backing of the UAE government and regulators, Matthew James explores why this qualification matters, its rigorous demands on students – and its capacity to ensure that no child is left behind. [Following requests, you can now read the new legislation in full at the end of this article. Ed.]

BTEC in UAE Schools. The Future Begins Now.

Matthew James.

Head of Post-16 Education. Assistant Principal. GEMS Wellington Academy – Dubai Silicon Oasis.

BTECs, a demanding vocational course offered by many schools around the UAE, has been afforded equivalency in the UAE – and the importance of this cannot be understated.

An often misunderstood qualification, the BTEC, alongside other Level 3 pathways – such as A-levels, IB Diploma, IB Careers Programme – now earns all of its students a route to university in the UAE.

If you could travel back in time to when I did my A-levels (the year 2000 – please don’t try and do the maths!) and tell people that in 20-odd years’ time, a BTEC qualification would sit alongside three A-levels in terms of currency to access university, nobody would have believed you. You would have had more chance proving you’re from the future by telling them that one day they would be able to order food through their phone and it’d be delivered by a robot!

But here we are. And it’s where we should be.

The most common misconception of the BTEC is that it’s ‘easier’ than A-levels or the IB Diploma – but how do you qualify ‘easy’? Is it the 1000+ guided learning hours? Is it the fifteen units of study? Is it the countless hours of self-study needed in order to complete each assignment?

 

Having seen so many students traverse a BTEC pathway over the past few years, I can say with the utmost confidence, that the BTEC is not an easy course.

Some students, myself back in 2000 for example, would have crumbled under the pressure of the constant coursework that is built into BTEC study . The need to manage one’s time, and workload, is so acutely imperative when studying for a BTEC qualification that those who, alternatively, thrive under the pressurised immediacy of exams, and revel in the opportunity to cram last minute, would find this qualification challenging. It’s very different. And it’s very demanding.

The BTEC programme lends itself to those who are committed to continuous study and the painstaking thought required in redrafting and fine tuning argument and conclusions to key issues that need resolving with depth and often practical, hands-on research or activity.

The purpose of this piece isn’t to argue that one course or qualification is “better” than the other. Indeed, at GEMS Wellington Academy, Silicon Oasis, we’re deeply passionate about finding the ‘right’ pathway for students and not the ‘best’ one. However it absolutely is to say that BTEC is a deeply credible, very important qualification that deserved to be respected, something that has come today with the UAE ruling that BTEC qualifications have parity with A Levels. For those detractors I would point out, as above, that the practice of coursework in BTEC has much greater affinity to university study than the quick fire examinations of A Level.

Our BTEC students have regularly succeeded – 2022 saw a 100% pass rate. This is likely to be repeated this summer. Even so, until today, students found themselves sacrificing their equivalency certificate and travelling to the UK or elsewhere to access Higher Education. Those who stayed in the UAE to study had to do so at universities not on the ‘List of Licensed Institutions in the UAE’ published by the Ministry of Education.

This is all set to change following the announcement that the MOE now recognises BTEC as a legitimate Post-16 pathway and students in the UAE, including Emirati nationals, can now access this pathway as a route to some of the most prestigious universities in the country.

This is a good day for students – and it is a good day for educators and those of us, like me, and my school, that understand, and believe in, the critical value of BTEC as a qualification. If you look at British or IB education today, it is arguable that the focus is increasingly shifting to technical education – and BTEC is the world’s gold standard technical qualification.

‘Equivalency’ is a purposeful and positive measure in the UAE in order to ensure that all students, Emirati or otherwise, meet certain educational expectations to be ready for life beyond school. Until now, however, some students not shaped for pathways like A-levels or the IB Diploma, have been disadvantaged and shoe-horned onto routes not suitable for their skills or needs. At GEMS Wellington Academy Dubai Silicon Oasis we are incredibly excited to now be able to guide all our students onto the correct pathway without the need to add asterisks to conversations around equivalency.

Now, if you are a student who thrives in a practical, coursework, vocational setting, you can begin a BTEC in the confidence you will be afforded the same opportunities in this country as your peers on an A-level route. The future, your future, starts now.

Make no mistake, whilst the new resolution directly impacts the UAE and its students, a BTEC qualification isn’t just for the UK or UAE. Pearson, the organising body for the qualification, state that “over 260 universities recognise the BTEC including those within the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.” The UK’s Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, UCAS, highlights that “BTECs are accepted in 29 countries around the world, including the Netherlands, Japan, and Malaysia.”

Simply put, a BTEC qualification opens hundreds of doors around the globe.

Finally, a few more of those doors too… are now Emirati.

Further Information

Read our review of GEMS Wellington Academy Dubai Silicon Oasis here.

Visit the official web site for GEMS Wellington Academy Dubai Silicon Oasis here.

Will BTECs be replaced by T Levels? Read more here.

Learn more about GEMS Education and its investment in conviction-led teachers and leadership here.

Read more about the vital and extraordinary fight to save BTEC here.

The Legislation

Ministerial Resolution No. 40. “Equivalency of vocational secondary certificates issued by private schools.” May 2023

Ministerial Resolution No. 41. “Amends and extended implementation of Ministerial Resolution 199.” May 2023.

About the author

Matthew James is Head of Post-16 Education and Assistant Principal at GEMS Wellington Academy – Silicon Oasis. Growing up in South Wales, he studied English Literature at the University of Wales, Swansea, graduating in 2003. In 2008 he studied for a PGCE in Secondary English. Now a teacher with fifteen years’ experience, Mr James is an advocate of lifelong learning, a defender of every child’s right to an outstanding education without compromise – and is an educator by conviction and vocation. Mr James has written for the Brtish broadsheet, The Guardian, on the power of Sport to inspire and engage the best of boys in the classroom. Mr James completed his Master’s degree in Education in 2014 focused on English Literature in Britain and the Commonwealth.