This anthology of essays, speeches and reflections is being published on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Higher Colleges of Technology in the United Arab Emirates. At one level, it is meant to celebrate the occasion. The HCT, after all, has turned out nearly 22,000 graduates since its founding. It has 15 campuses and more than 16,000 students, and faculty from nearly 50 countries. The institution's students often get multiple job offers each upon graduation, and graduates have gone on to assume some of the highest professional positions in the UAE and elsewhere.This anthology is also intended to celebrate thought. The hope is that this collection of writings by some of the finest minds in the international community will prove useful to readers-students and general audiences alike in discussions about some of the most pressing issues of our time. The key issue around which this anthology is organized, of course, is education. Its value and necessity come through both explicitly and implicitly. There is general consensus in these writings that in this age of galloping globalization, people everywhere will benefit from higher education.But regardless of what actions this anthology triggers on the part of its readers, the very act of picking it up and cracking open its pages is itself a tribute to thought, an acknowledgment that ideas matter, and that the printed word remains a wonderful vehicle through which the global community shares its experiences and aspirations.