Loading...
Hidden Curriculum in the Uae. A Historical Analysis Higher Education GERs
AlMheiri, Fatima AlMugarrab
AlMheiri, Fatima AlMugarrab
Date
2025-05
Authors
Advisor
Type
Thesis
Degree
Citations
Altmetric:
Description
A Master of Arts thesis in International Studies by Fatima AlMugarrab AlMheiri entitled, “Hidden Curriculum in the Uae. A Historical Analysis Higher Education GERs”, submitted in May 2025. Thesis advisor is Dr. Vernon Pedersen. Soft copy is available (Thesis, Completion Certificate, Approval Signatures, and AUS Archives Consent Form).
Abstract
This thesis interrogates the evolution of general education requirements (GERs) in higher education institutions (HEIs) across the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as vehicles for value transmission. If general education requirements (GERs) are approached as state-authored texts; deliberate, political, and ideological, what hidden curriculum emerges? What values are being subtly, but systematically, inscribed? GERs operate as quiet instruments of statecraft. Through them, the UAE embeds national values; discipline, loyalty, innovation, tolerance, productivity, and reverence, into the architecture of undergraduate education. Using a longitudinal, qualitative content analysis grounded in Phuong and Vanderstraeten’s (2024) analytical framework on the ideological function of educational content, this study analyses course catalogs, syllabi, and institutional policy documents from 1976 to 2025 across six key institutions: UAE University, Khalifa University, Zayed University, University of Sharjah, American University of Sharjah, and the Higher Colleges of Technology. Findings reveal recurrent curricular patterns. GERs have evolved in direct response to national developmental priorities, from early emphasis on religious and linguistic unity to the contemporary insertion of courses on innovation, sustainability, entrepreneurship, and global citizenship. Even courses in IT literacy or communication are never ideologically neutral; they carry implicit messages about modernity, order, and economic utility. In making visible the political architecture behind what is taught and why, this study contributes a critical lens to higher education policy in the Gulf and a deeper understanding of how states use curricula to script the future.