NEWS FROM THE UAE
SOURCE : THE NATIONAL
Verification of degrees costly for job seekers
ABU DHABI - APR 26:Stringent checks aimed at stopping degree fraud by British job applicants are delaying the delivery of work visas, in some cases by more than a month.
One applicant was fined for overstaying his tourist visa as he waited for his university degree to be authorised at home.
Last autumn Britain tightened its attestation procedure in an attempt to limit fraud.
The change was necessary because image-altering technology such as the Photoshop computer program makes it easy to alter details or forge entire degree certificates, according to officials at the British Council, which is responsible for conducting part of the attestation process.
Instead of just examining certificates to determine the seals are correct and the information about the university corresponds with its records, the British Council now contacts each university to confirm the details.
“To counter the possibility of clever manipulation or alteration of degrees, we get back to the university and ask them to check their records,” said Paul Sellers, director of the council.
“It can take an extra few days because we might have to leave it with the university.”
The procedures were altered to bring the UAE branch in line with others in the region that were already verifying certificates.
“Technology now theoretically makes it easier for people to make high-quality reproductions of certificates, or amend details shown on otherwise bona fide originals,” Mr Sellers added.
He said the value placed on degrees from British institutions meant some people may be tempted to fake certificates.
The British Council asks universities to verify a certificate within five days, while acknowledging that sometimes it can take longer.
The process can be further held up by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which requires that degree certificates go through the British embassies in Abu Dhabi or Dubai to confirm the British Council’s stamp and signature. Then they are sent to the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office in Milton Keynes to verify the British Embassy’s stamp is genuine.
A representative from the ministry was unavailable to comment.
The British Council admits the process is “relatively complex and expensive” and can take more than a month, leading to visa complications for some applicants who are already in the UAE.
One British applicant who took a job at an Abu Dhabi company is still only part of the way through the process after seven weeks. He was fined Dh825 (US$225) after overstaying the 30 days he had in the country after leaving his previous job in Dubai.
It took Leeds University about a month to confirm he was a graduate, said the applicant, who asked not to be named for fear of jeopardising his visa.
“It is perplexing and it makes changing jobs somewhat difficult,” he said.
Confirmation of university degree for certain jobs is required in Abu Dhabi but not Dubai because of a difference in how the emirates interpret federal law, according to recruitment consultants.
The council is lobbying the UAE to streamline the process but does not expect a change soon.
Meanwhile, recruitment consultants said it had become harder in recent years to get a job in the Gulf as companies are increasingly searching for more highly skilled applicants, prompting some applicants to exaggerate their accomplishments.
As many as 10 per cent of British applicants embellish their academic records rather than falsify them outright, said Jason Armes, a consultant with Hays Recruitment.
“It’s very common. An applicant who did not finish his or her university course might say they had attended university without mentioning that they did not graduate. And if they do admit to having dropped out it will always have been for ‘family reasons’.”
Steven Pike, public affairs officer at the US embassy in Abu Dhabi, said the embassy was regularly given false qualifications by job applicants. Most came from “diploma mills” in the US, which sell certificates claiming the holder has graduated.
The embassy will verify certificates only from institutions accredited by the US Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation, according to its website.
Dh1.4bn roads revamp for Dubai
An artist's rendering of planned improvements to Al Wasl road in Dubai. Courtesy Dubai RTA
DUBAI - APR 26: Three major road improvement schemes costing a total of Dh1.4 billion (US$380m) and aimed at reducing traffic jams at some of the city’s congestion black spots were announced on Saturday.
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said the projects, which should ease traffic flow on three of Dubai’s busiest roads and junctions, had been approved by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Sheikh Mohammed, also Prime Minister of the UAE, endorsed the designs for the projects, which include replacing the notoriously gridlocked Trade Centre roundabout with a signal-controlled
junction with flyovers. The other plans are to replace four traffic-light junctions on Al Wasl Road with underpasses and to widen Al Khail Road from four to six lanes.
The Trade Centre project will include the construction of new exits taking motorists from Zabeel Two Road in the direction of Sheikh Zayed Road towards Abu Dhabi and the construction of flyovers linking the terminal point of the Western Parallel Road before Zabeel Two Road, which project managers say will ease traffic considerably.
“The roundabout will be replaced with traffic signals providing free right turns and U-turns in most junctions. Also, traffic movement will be diverted from Al Diyafa Road towards Immigration Road, and the movement will be diverted from Immigration Road towards Sheikh Zayed Road leading to Al Garhoud and Al Maktoum Bridges,” said Mattar al Tayer, chairman of the board and executive director of the RTA.
One of the announcements includes converting four signal-controlled junctions into two-lane underpasses extending in both directions of an 11km stretch of Al Wasl Road.
Mr al Tayer said the project would cover the road between Al Safa Road intersection and the junction with Al Manara Road.
“This project contributes to RTA efforts to enhance the efficiency of the road and improve traffic flow,” he said.
“The goal is to ultimately slash the transit time along the road. Construction works will start in the last quarter of this year and will take 14 months to complete.”
The fourth phase of the Al Khail Road improvement project will see the construction of six new bridges, replacement of a roundabout with a “multi-level road” and the transformation of the road into a six-lane motorway, the RTA statement said.
“Works under this phase include replacing the existing roundabout at the intersection with Umm Suqeim Road by a free multi-level road to ensure a smooth flow of traffic at all directions,” Mr al Tayer said.
“It also covers widening Al Khail Road from to six from four lanes. The new intersection will provide easy access and less congestion in neighbourhoods in the areas such as Barsha South, Al Quoz Industrial and others.”
The Al Khail Road improvement scheme is being undertaken in six phases, with an estimated overall cost of Dh1.8bn.
Motorists had mixed reactions.
“The Trade Centre roundabout and the Al Khail Road junction are two of the most congested areas in Dubai for motorists who daily commute to work,” said Thomas Gupta.
“The new plans will hopefully ease traffic especially by increasing number of lanes on Al Khail Road.”
But Richard Streeton, an operations manager who has lived in Dubai for 10 years, said: “The roads are fine, and they should be left alone for a significant amount of time to allow them to stabilise before introducing further construction work on roads. Changing too many things at the same time could be very confusing.”
Side-effects of drugs to be monitored in new database
Abu Dhabi - APR 26: Drug side-effects are to be recorded daily in a new national database operated by the Ministry of Health.
The information will be used to warn the public and in research on how different drugs interact. It is part of a programme approved on Friday by the ministry’s national committee for the medical alert system, the state news agency WAM reported.
The MoH says the “pharmacovigilance” programme will begin this week, implemented by representatives from the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD), the Dubai Health Authority and private facilities.
It will issue alerts about negative reactions, such as seizures and organ failure, as well as guidelines to all hospitals, doctors and pharmacists about how to use particular drugs. The ministry will also work with the World Health Organisation to distribute warnings internationally.
Adverse reactions can be caused by one drug – sometimes because of the genetic make-up of a patient, sometimes because of the drug itself – or when two or more drugs interact badly, said Dr Amin al Amiri, the executive director of licensing and medical practices at the MoH.
“All those complications will be reported on a daily basis to the central office at the Ministry of Health and we will be giving awareness to all the hospitals in the country to have an alert to this medicine,” he said.
“The complications could be severe and could be slight. They could happen immediately or on the long run. Either we will ask them to stop using the medications entirely or offer guidelines about how the medicines are to be used.”
The news was welcomed by doctors as a vigilant, pro-active measure to protect their patients.
Drug trials have a relatively small pool of test subjects, so it is not uncommon for more interactions to be discovered when a drug is released to the wider public, said Dr Hashem Tarifi, the head of pharmacy at Tawam Hospital.
“Drug reporting systems should be more agile, more interactive and more timely,” he added.
“All this information should be available at a national level so they can do trending, analysis and they can look for patterns.
HAAD set up a similar centre last June. It warned the public about the combined use of two drugs, Desmopressin and Moxifloxacin, which led to severe side-effects in some patients.
“Sometimes there are interactions and no one knows what is going on,” said Dr Sa’a Khalid Saffarini, a family doctor based in Ras al Khaimah.