Dubai: Duke University's Fuqua School of Business will roll out a masters in Management Studies (MMS) exclusive to the Middle Eastern region from its Dubai base in April next year.
Duke will also roll out its first non-degree open enrolment executive education leadership development programme this week.
"We made a decision to embed ourselves within key regions in the world that will make a difference today and in the future in terms of the global economy," said William Boulding, Dean of Duke's Fuqua School of Business.
"We've made a commitment to this region because we think this is an important part of the world… so we'd like to create value for people in the UAE and the region."
He added Duke's aim is also to learn from the cultural and business practices in the regions in which it embeds itself.
"The ultimate goal of any university is to develop insights and prepare future world leaders," he said.
The MMS programme is aimed at individuals working in the finance services sector both on the regulatory and financial activity sides.
"This programme is for people engaged in financial activity in the region interested in building their finance skills and learning how to get financial systems to be effective," he said.
"We've seen incredible turbulence in the Western markets' financial systems and this is an interesting opportunity to look at different ways you'd think of having a financial system in place."
He added the programme also allows those in the financial services sector to explore ways to create institutional regulations and activities to create a stable and vibrant financial services sector.
Not just projection
"We made a commitment to not just project into a region but to be of the region and contribute to it where we can bring value," said Boulding. "Our belief is by engaging deeply and addressing issues of relevance we learn more; which creates value for us as an institution."
The American business school set up in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Centre of Excellence in 2009, offers cross-continent MBA and Global Executive MBA programmes.
"The leadership programme is aimed at anyone in a position to be leading a team or company, looking to be more effective in accomplishing organisational goals and decisions," he said.
Duke's Fuqua School of Business has six locations outside its US campus. These are — the UAE, India, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and South Africa.
The institution's move to expand in key regions around the globe is meant to adapt to the changing nature of international business.
Basic principles
"Business schools are essentially built for a world that no longer exists, they were built for a world that was predicated on capitalism and efficient markets," said Boulding.
"All they had to do was teach students basic principles and send them out into the world."
He added that it is now evident the world did not converge to a single paradigm.
"What we see around the world is interesting differences in terms of the institutional forms that exist and the ways people behave and operate," he said.
"There is a residual of civilisation that presents itself in terms of norms of behaviour and culture that operates."
Boulding illustrated his point by using an example of increased interest in Islamic financial and business practices.
"By running this programme designed to prepare people for the financial services sector and help bridge the connect between Islamic finance and western finance, [it] gives us an incredible opportunity to more deeply understand the role of Islam in terms of how business," he said.
"As a result we will have deeper insights around the implications of Islam in respect to how people operate within the global economy."
