UAE | Government
DSG begins new academic year
Thirty-five graduate students yesterday started their academic year at the Dubai School of Government's new Master of Public Administration (MPA), a one-year professional programme that trains students for positions in government, quasi-governmental service or the non-profit sectors.
- By Maysam Ali, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:41 January 11, 2009
- Thirty-five graduate students yesterday started their academic year at the Dubai School of Government's new Master of Public Administration (MPA), a one-year professional programme that trains students for positions in government, quasi-governmental service or the non-profit sectors.
- Image Credit: Francois Nel/Gulf News
Dubai: Thirty-five graduate students yesterday started their academic year at the Dubai School of Government's new Master of Public Administration (MPA), a one-year professional programme that trains students for positions in government, quasi-governmental service or the non-profit sectors.
Dr Tarek Yousuf, Dean of the Dubai School of Government (DSG), introduced the students to the faculty and staff of the school during an orientation session marking the start of their academic year.
Dr Mohammad Lahouel, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, told Gulf News that the programme gives public servants in the Arab world the opportunity to learn and train at a highly qualified school in the UAE. The students have worked in prime ministerial offices and other governmental or educational institutions in Mauritania, Tunisia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Palestine and other Arab countries.
"The diversity of backgrounds of the students in terms of academic training and work experience in different countries will enhance the quality of the programme," he said.
The programme is both theoretical and practical and involves working with the industry on a specific problem and providing a policy reform recommendation.
"Much of the training is applied and not abstract... Teaching helps students use modern analysis instruments to deal with issues they are faced with in the real world," he added.
The school consulted with Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government for recommendations on how to proceed but the programme was designed in-house and the faculty are DSG-based.
Khalid Al Yahya, a faculty member who taught at US-based Arizona State University and was a fellow at Harvard University, will be teaching a course in public administration and ethics in the public sector.
Ethical challenges
"Ethics and business practice is a very important problem in the region, so we need to focus on the ethical challenges that face the public sector in everyday life," he told Gulf News.
Tarek Coury, an economist and associate professor who taught at Cambridge University and Oxford University, said that the students and faculty will focus on strategic issues, including institutional features in the Middle Eat, economic diversification, including other topics pertinent to the region.
"Our mission is to focus on reality and not perception and to try to influence the direction of economics, public and industrial policy to make it more systematic and rational," he said.
Al Yahya said that the professor will aim to create knowledge, not only focus on teaching. "Social policy issues usually tackle the US, Europe and Asia, not the Middle East. We (the faculty members) are all Arabs who studied and taught in the US, we're seeing the region changing and we want to be part of this transformation," he added.
Share this article
More from UAE Government
More from UAE
Popular in UAE
-
Your pictures
Readers' pictures
The best reader pictures from around the UAE this week
Latest news
- Man burns to death in Ras Al Khaimah
- Baby sold in sting operation in Dubai
- Doctor jailed for a year after newborn paralysed
- Etihad to operate double daily flights to Frankfurt
- UAE tops country brand list in the region
- Are you a bookworm?
- Sharjah book fair officially opens
- Help me find my precious cat
- AG expresses confidence in public prosecution's skills
- Meet to discuss ways to secure energy supplies
- Deyaar case: Expert asked to submit detailed report i
- Institute adopts best judicial practices
- Masters in construction law to address sector's concerns
- New council to strike demographic balance
- Technology can negatively affect girls: forum
Community Reports
-
Help me find my precious cat
Raif, my cute eight-month-old ‘fur ball', went missing in Abu Dhabi's Al Bateen area last month
-
Pavement parking irks pedestrians
Gulf News reader calls on authorities to step in and stop car owners from invading pathways meant for safe walking
-
Faded parking lines pose a problem
Motorists could be fined for parking incorrectly even though they can hardly see the boundaries in the designated areas
-
School buses block residential parking
Commercial vehicles taking up free parking facilities in Al Wuheida, inconveniencing residents in surrounding villas
