Simon Bradbury visits DMU Dubai Campus to explore future strategies for the region

Simon Bradbury the Pro Vice-Chancellor International and Dean for the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities at award-winning UK university, DMU Leicester, visited the DMU Dubai campus to explore future strategies for the region. Earlier, Simon was the Head of the School of Architecture at De Montfort University. He is also responsible for the University International Strategy in his role as PVC International with oversight of international recruitment and Transnational Education.

The university is the official Founding Partner of the UK Pavilion at Expo 2020. Commenting on DMU’s presence in UAE academics and at the Expo, Simon Bradbury said:

“We have a strong international presence already as we have students from 133 different countries studying currently in Leicester, and we have a number of international partnerships. Dubai offers a huge opportunity in terms of its key growth industries and enables us to align these with our key areas of research and expertise. Creating a branch campus enables us to have a global hub, not only for Dubai, but also for reaching out to the surrounding region. In addition to that, we're the lead academic sponsor for the UK pavilion, at Expo. So, these things coming together really share our commitment both to the region, and helps us take a step forward in our strategy.

Dubai’s strategic agenda to look at sustainability is evident in the way in which the Expo is structured. We are one of the 17 global hubs for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals which means all of those aspects are very much embedded in the curriculum that we offer.

Alongside that, we have world-leading expertise in areas such as cyber security, and you can see those programs coming forward. We also have one of the top 50 world schools in fashion and we are bringing out our new BA (Hon) Fashion Communication and Styling programme here in Dubai. So, what we're trying to do is really capitalize on our research activities and educational links to those key agendas, but also aligning that really to the kind of growth areas and opportunities that we're seeing, both in Dubai and in the region.”

Simon, an influential voice in Sustainable Development, will be one of the speakers in a series of panel discussions, presentations and podcasts hosted at the UK Pavilion, during the five-day period between January 13-18 where ‘In the Future, How will we Live?’ which proactively discusses solutions for sustainable living will be the focus of activity.

DMU Dubai will launch DMU Dubai IYZ – Foundation programme, BA (Hons) Fashion Communication and Styling, BA (Hons) Interior Design, B.Sc. (Hons) Psychology, BA (Hons) Business and Management, BA (Hons) Accounting & Finance, LLB, BSc (Hons) Cyber Security and B.Eng. (Hons) Mechanical Engineering and the MBA (Global) this year.