Cass Business School (Cass) has reported a 90 per cent growth of its Dubai Executive MBA programme, currently running into its fourth year at the Dubai International Financial Centre's (DIFC) Centre of Excellence.
Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Michael Bear, also the Chancellor of City University London, to which Cass belongs, believes the growth is due to youth motivation.
"Higher education is such a big investment in our young people," he said in an interview with Gulf News at Cass' annual alumni gathering last week. "All you have to do is look around the room to see the motivation."
He added that the regional transfer of knowledge through Cass' extensive experience in education is a help to the region's aspiring youth.
"It's tremendous that we are able to pass on our experience and knowledge in education in this part of the world where it's so sorely needed," said Bear. "A region where so much of the population is made up of aspiring young that want to get on."
Financial concentration
Since its establishment in Dubai in 2007, Cass has a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) pool of over 800 alumni students who join a total of 34,000 worldwide. Cass is ranked by the Financial Times as the second best business school in the United Kingdom and 10th in the world.
Given its global reach, Cass seeks to further extend its relations across the world and now has its sights set on the Far East.
"China is a very good target to do that," said Bear. "Because so many people speak Chinese it will soon become a business language in its own right."
He added that the discipline in need of more attention in the GCC is construction management, having himself worked in construction across the world for nearly 40 years. "Construction management and making sure things can be built on time and budget is extremely important," he said.
Bear also believes the financial services disciplines to be relevant to current situations in the UAE and the region.
"What's important is Islamic finance, insurance and all of the financial services that make this part of the world tick," he said.
As if to illustrate his point, Bear recently signed an agreement with the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) on behalf of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.
The agreement now enables students to pursue a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) degree combined with the accounting discipline.
