1 July 2007
The Dubai International Financial Centre has created the DIFC Education Centre (DEC) and is quickly building it into the leading provider of executive education in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region.
London Business School was first to announce its collaboration, it is starting an EMBA program at DEC in September 2007 and will add some non-degree executive education programs tro this offering.
Cass Business School, part of City University, London, is also offering its own EMBA at the DEC, which also starts in September this year. The Cass EMBA has three streams, a generalist one, an energy one and a world-first "Islamic Finance" stream. Cass, based in the City of London, has very strong finance expertise; all the faculty teaching in Dubai will be from Cass's London campus.
Queen's Business School, Ontario have also recently contracted with the DEC to provide executive education programs. Currently they are offering eight different programs timetabled through to the end of 2008. (The same programs are also available in neighbouring Abu Dhabithrough their partner organisation CERT).
IEDP spoke with DIFC/DEC to discover a little more regarding the thinking and development of the DIFC Education Centre....
When was the DEC established?
Late 2006
How does the DEC fit in with the DIFC?
This initiative is in line with the DIFC’s strategic objective to foster the development of financial and capital markets, products and services. Education and analysis of economic and financial information in the DIFC region is crucial in developing our knowledge economy and thereby strengthening Dubai’s position as a major financial services hub.
Who is it targeted at, with regards to participants?
Executives and Professionals of and related to the finance industry and business.
What is its physical make-up (i.e. is there a campus or is it a "virtual" establishment)?
The DIFC Education Centre has its own dedicated building. Building 2 in the gate village. Every educational body that has presence in the DIFC education centre will have a physical presence in the dedicated building. These educational/development providers would have access to the state of the art shared educational facilities like class rooms, labs, library…etc. in the education centre depending on their own requirements and plans.
So they would offer face to face education/training programmes with support of other learning aids like e-libraries, on-line support and others to offer the best support to the participants.
There would be Degree and non degree programs, for example the EMBA is a degree programme, while a one week development programme on basics of Islamic Finance would be a non-degree one, but the participants would get a recognized certificate of attendance.
In addition to that, there are tailor made programmes in specific fields of finance and management to suit the specific development needs of organizations.
How do LBS, Cass and Queens fit into the DIFC Education Centre program structure?
The DIFC Education Centre model is all about collaborating with internationally recognized academic institutions. The DIFC believes that businesses need to partner with academic institutions to produce an educated talent base that is attuned to the needs of the market.
The programmes being launched by these academic institutions in association with DIFC will enable region-based executives to acquire world class education at their doorsteps.
So the DIFC Education Centre acts as a catalyst and facilitator between both the supply and demand of Education and talent development.
Does the DIFC Education Centre/DIFC have an active role in the actual implementation and syllabus construction of the programs or does it just act as a host organization?
That depends on the programme; for example in the case of the LBS EMBA which is a well known tested and highly credible programme, the Education Centre didn’t play any role in its structure. But it would have an active role in developing tailor made/designed programmes to specific needs of certain organizations or sector of the industry like Islamic Finance.
In general, the following stages will see the emergence of the DIFC Education Centre as a platform for the development and enhancement of the educational programmes for the local and regional business and finance industries. This will happen through feedback from the local and regional business and finance industries, the professionals operating within these industries in addition to the presence of the academics, professors and educators who would have a better understanding then of the region’s culture and specific needs.
Given that both LBS and Queens will be running short executive programs - is there any dialogue between them to limit program overlap or enhance synergies?
At the moment the DIFC Education Centre works very closely with each provider to avoid this kind of overlap by ensuring that each educational body offers its own flagship program. So you would see that the programmes offered by LBS are different than the ones offered by Queens. That also to offer a wider mix of programmes to the demand in the region in the shortest possible time. So there very much is an active and transparent dialogue between the education centre and the current providers as well as the potential and targeted ones.
What future plans are envisaged for the development of these collaborations (either physically in terms of building an exec-ed campus or in terms of furthering the breadth and reach of the programs offered)?
The gate village building Number 2 is actually the exec-ed campus that would host these collaborations. Through which the DIFC Education Centre will provide state of the art infrastructure and services to the education providers.
And yes, the next phases would have an emphasis not only on the breadth but the depth of the offered programmes.
Does DIFC Education Centre/DIFC have any more leading business school collaborations in the pipeline?
Yes, there’s a very exciting pipeline of other internationally acclaimed institutions that will be joining the DIFC Education Centre. Those would be announced in due time.
Is DIFC Education Centre/DIFC looking at other types of providers as well (consultants, coaches etc) in providing executive development?
The DIFC Education Centre doesn’t target that, but consultancy work might emerge with the professional business schools for customized work to certain organizations.
The LBS and Cass EMBA programs are due to begin shortly - what level of take-up has there been and can you indicate what the participants profiles are (ages, experience, nationality, corporate location, industry background, management level etc)
London Business School is looking to have a class of around 60 participants for its EMBA. At the beginning of June they had had over 1500 enquiries, 87 completed application forms from 28 different nationalities (although most are domiciled in the UAE). A further 287 applications are in process.
Cass's EMBA is also on track to fill its first cadre of particpants for the 2 year program.. They are looking for participants with a minimum of three years management experience - and have completed applications from across the GCC region.
The DEC expects to expand its offerings in Dubai based at the DIFC and in the wider GCC region, based on the uptake we are getting for our wider Executive Education portfolio of offerings. We ran a course on Decision Making for Leaders in March and one on Hedge Funds in May which is helping us decide what range of short courses to offer.
There are several other schools establishing themselves in the region (e.g. IMT Ghaziabad's Dubai campus), do these organizations have any influence in the structuring and planning of what DIFC offers - or are they seen as direct competitors?
Our role is developing and strengthening Dubai’s position as a major financial services hub. We see the establishment of other schools in the region as complementing the efforts of the DIFC in developing the local and regional economies.
In terms of executive development in the Gulf region what are the primary needs - more general management programs aimed at middle to senior executives, advanced management programs, leadership and behavioral programs, functional programs etc?
As the region develops and more international companies are being established within the DIFC there is a need for highly skilled workforce at all levels. It’s a priority of the DIFC that where possible this talent is home grown.
Thank you
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