The Foundation
Al Futtaim Education Foundation (AFEF) was launched by Al Futtaim family as a not-for-profit initiative with the aim of meaningfully impacting the education scene in the UAE, the region, and beyond.
Click here to download the Al Futtaim Education Foundation brochure.
Vision and Mission
The Foundation’s vision is one of excellence. Through our commitment to celebrating legacy, solidifying our links with the community and embracing the future, we approach education as the foundational principle of human progress.
For this purpose, we dedicate time, resources and capabilities to support the realisation of the UAE vision of building a solid knowledge-based economy that can withstand the test of disruption.
Activities and Plans
The Foundation contributes to its schools in a number of areas, as follows:
1. Academic excellence:
The Foundation sets the strategic direction, goals and tone for its schools. Through the Al- Futtaim School Management Company (AFSMC), AFEF also quality assures the schools’ academic performance.
Academic excellence is deeply rooted in the belief that all students at our schools should be offered tailored opportunities to allow them to excel and grow. Our schools offer pathways that cater for diverse student needs, from the most traditionally academic, through the vocationally academic, to the most progressive and bespoke qualifications that open doors for success and further study options. Al Futtaim Education Foundation focuses within its long and medium-term planning on enhancing, augmenting and transforming education in the UAE and beyond.
2. Operational Excellence and Synergies:
AFEF, through its foundational links to Al-Futtaim businesses, provides its schools with administrative assistance in procurement, HR, facilities, finance and other areas of school operation, a required. The Foundation, through its not-for-profit operation model, funds school facility expansion and upgrade in ways that ensure keeping up with the best educational practice in learning environment and learning space design. Our schools are operationally managed by a Shared Services Centre for Excellence that brings quality, efficiency and consistency to the day-to-day running of our schools.
3. Sponsorships and Partnerships:
AFEF offers sponsorships of school-based initiatives and activities that can further enrich the learning experience of school students, contribute positively to the community, or break new educational grounds in terms of innovation and creativity. AFEF capitalises on links within the community and beyond to bring the schools expertise from distinguished educationalists and thought leaders in the field, be that through consultancy, specialist training and development events or through collaborations. In addition, AFEF supports initiatives in education that aim to enhance curricular and extended curricular provision.
Programs
Centre for Excellence in Arabic:
The AFEF Centre for Excellence in Arabic was founded to support the UAE Vision of ensuring that students have a solid knowledge of the Arabic language and can use it as a language for thought and life.
Through its innovative research-based tools, strategies and instruments, the AFEF Centre for Excellence in Arabic supports Arabic teaching and learning with the curriculum at the centre of attention. The Centre cultivates interest in the Arabic language through a focus on literature, on developing a wealth of curriculum resources, and on providing a platform for action research into the language. The Centre works with publishers to improve reading materials in schools and offers professional development programs for the Arabic teaching community in UAE.
Education Futures:
Al Futtaim Education Foundation, in line with the UAE Centennial Vision 2071, is committed to the foresight and future-facing approach to education. As part of its Education Futures initiative, Al Futtaim Education Foundation offers a scholarship-based, supplemental educational programme powered by the School of Humanity, founded by Raya Bidshahri. Raya Bidshahri, listed in the BBC’s 100 Women for 2019. For more information aboutnthe School of Humanity please visit this website Here
SCHOLARSHIPS:
The Al Futtaim Education Foundation offers a generous scholarship programme to support our parent community. The scholarship programme allows us to give back to the community, an integral part of who we are and of the values that we embrace. The scholarships also allow us to recognise and reward academic achievement, sporting, artistic and performing talent, and to promote a diverse culture of personal bests to our stakeholders
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING:
The Foundation believes that the best approach to the future comes through preparedness and “learning by doing”, therefore, we offer students at Universal American School and Deira International School a variety of real-life experiential learning programmes to help them enhance their employability and validate their higher education choices.
Board of Directors AFEF
Chairman: Mr. Omar Al Futtaim
Board Member: Mr. Fadi Hammadeh
Board Member: Mr. Edward Quinlan
Board Member: Ms. Mira Al Futtaim
Board Member: Dr. Farah Sarraj
Secretary to the Board: Mr. Chandy Jacob
Visit Al Futtaim Education Foundation’s website here.