BALANCED SCORECARD IMPLEMENTATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: AN EMIRATI PERSPECTIVE

This research is dealing with the problem of performance evaluation in the specific sector of higher education in the UAE environment. The idea of this paper has emerged from 2 main observations:  Inexistence, to the best of my knowledge, of researchers studying the performance evaluation of the emirate’s higher education institutions and using Balanced Scorecard (BSC).  A growing interest in the strategic considerations at the college where I am working. Indeed, a movement of formalization of strategy has been noticed, at least since last 2 years. This movement translates the awareness and desire of the top management to adapt their strategy and also to align it with the new vision and objectives of their institutions. It requires the use of certain tools for measurement and management, as for example, BSC. Importance of higher education for the development of a country is no longer to be proven. Higher education forms the advanced skills and knowledge necessary to build societies and thus, guarantees the sustainability of a country’s development. Being aware of this importance, emirate’s public authorities have belt during the recent years on the development of higher education sector. Consequently, this sector has shown an extraordinary growth since 1997 due to a strong social demand and also due to a strong political will to set up an educational system meeting the international standards of quality. Indeed, a growing number of private and public colleges and universities have been created all over UAE. The number of higher education institutions licensed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MHESR) augmented from 5 in 1997 to about 75 institutions teaching 733 accredited programs in 2014 (Commission for the Academic Accreditation; 2014). Majority of these licensed institutions are private and many of them are working under the label of prestigious western universities. In this context, the state has minimized its role only to the Abstract