The Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG) - the first research and teaching institution focused on promoting governance and public policy in the Arab world -  has revealed its strategy for managing the public health of its employees and students during the return to work phase, applying precautionary measures and professional advice to adhere to the recommended instructions. 

MBRSG’s aim is to manage business continuity, maintain employee productivity, and ramp up its academic programmes by applying remote learning systems that use modern technology to enable social distancing. The plan for the school is to have its operations functioning at full capacity starting tomorrow (Sunday) June 14.

His Excellency Dr. Ali bin Sebaa Al-Marri, Executive President of MBRSG, affirmed that the school has adopted a short and long-term strategic plan for managing the COVID-19 crisis based on its emergency and crisis approaches for business continuity, all the while maintaining quality and efficiency, administratively and academically, in accordance with the highest international standards  

"MBRSG possesses a vast degree of expertise through its qualified cadres that are adept at managing situations like the current one we are experiencing. MBSRG has successfully negotiated the critical stage that required social distancing procedures through our technological infrastructure and because of the great cooperation we witnessed from our employees and students during that intense period,” said His Excellency.

“There is now the opportunity to commence a move towards a new phase that involves the lessening of restrictions - we will soon witness the full return to work within MBRSG and the various governmental entities in Dubai and the UAE. This move has required us to prepare new mechanisms to manage the next stage, the most important of which are to support employees and to prepare them to work efficiently, to maintain the quality of academic and consulting services, as well as to ensure the provision of assistance to the government and to the private sector to cross the recovery phase,” His Excellency added.

Among the initiatives and measures that MBRSG has employed to ensure continuity of its services at this critical time have been the adoption of a 100% remote work system and the transformation of academic and training programmes, admissions, and assessments to smart e-programmes. Platforms such as ‘Blackboard collaborate,’ ‘Ultra-collaborator’ and MBRSG’s ‘Executive Education Smart Platform’ have features that include  live video, enabling lectures to be conducted remotely. 

As a result of these platforms and the commitment of staff and students, MBRSG was able to transform 44 courses for 270 students and four training programs for 132 trainees, enabling participants to continue their activities remotely. It added up toa total of 736 hours of education and training during the first five weeks of social distancing.

With regard to MBRSG’s consulting services, an initiative was launched by the school during the holy month of Ramadan titled ‘Ask an expert’ on LinkedIn aimed at providing a specialist advisory opinion, while a second initiative facilitated the exchange of information between non-resident consultants. The school also streamed knowledge sessions on Instagram, as well as educational webinars through the ‘Zoom’ application.

MBRSG also provided the infrastructure to conduct academic and specialised research, publishing articles in local newspapers to convey the knowledge momentum in the government. It also published policy research relating to COVID-19 crisis responses, gradually shifting the conducting of policy councils and research seminars to the virtual realm. In addition, staff and students received training workshops using digital platforms.

MBRSG provided an online infrastructure that guaranteed employees’ access to all documents remotely while ensuring the security of information from cyber-attacks. In addition, it adopted procedures to ensure employees' administrative functions, as well as conducted remote performance measurement and monitoring evaluations to maintain academic integrity. 

With respect to academic e-marketing, four workshops were held to promote next semester courses and implement post-COVID-19 knowledge. Full precautionary measures are being taken according to the highest international standards and as recommended by Dubai Health Authority to prevent further outbreaks among employees and students following the return to work phase.