Dubai: A group of students in the UAE who were at risk of missing university due to financial reasons are currently pursuing their degrees online — thanks to a UAE foundation that stood by them in spite of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mohamed Estwani, a Syrian expat in Abu Dhabi, is one of the nearly 1,000 underserved Arab and Emirati youths who have been provided with full scholarships at partnering universities in the UAE and beyond by the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education (AGFE) since 2015. Mohamed Estwani Estwani, 26, is pursuing an online master’s degree in health-care innovation from United States-based Arizona State University (ASU). The second-year scholar, who works in the medical supplies sector, said the pandemic pushed him to become more “resilient”. He added: “We were able to overcome the challenges of supplying vital medical supplies and equipment — ventilator, beds, monitors, lights, etc — and prepare a field hospital despite the restrictions and challenges. We were able to utilise existing resources and refurbish few to operate them during that difficult period. That is in addition to maintaining surgical supplies to emergency cases with new guidelines for surgery.”