The "Applied" or "Professional" Higher Education (HE) institutions across the world are engaged to explore new, innovative educational models to address the expectations of the labour market. This has been triggered by the intensive globalization emphasizing the institutional need to streamline the mission and clearly define the identity, which would be recognised by concerned external stakeholders. Since established in 1988, the pedagogy at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), the largest public HE institution in the UAE, has evolved from the "Learning by Doing" concept towards the progressive and innovative "Hybrid Education" model, comprising together elements of academic, professional and vocational learning approaches. The HCT 2.0 Strategy prioritizes continuous innovative transformation towards needs of the knowledge economies of the future. In order to achieve the development goals, HCT focusses on partnership with the industry and provision of the real-life and real-work learning experiences.