Dubai International Academy, the Emirates Hills-located school that opened last year, organised a special induction programme aimed at providing its teachers a better understanding of the school's vision, work processes and practices, and its goals for its second academic year, which commences on September 3, with over 1,000 students from 66 nationalities.
Orientation
The four-day programme also served as an orientation course for the new batch of teachers from different nationalities, as they were able to interact with the directors of the board, senior administrators and existing teaching staff, and find out more about school ethics and expectations, in addition to general information about the UAE, how to respond to local sensitivities and different situations and challenges that they might face, during their transition to a cosmopolitan and multicultural environment that exists in the UAE.
Customer satisfaction
The highlight on the opening day of the induction programme was a thought-provoking presentation made by Hamdi Osman, the regional vice-president of FedEx in charge of over 81 countries located in the Middle East, Africa, Indian subcontinent and CIS region, and Founder Partner and Board Director of Dubai International Academy.
His presentation, titled Customer Experience, emphasised the importance of giving pupils and parents the same respect and excellent services that well established companies were expected to provide their customers, as part of their overall customer satisfaction and retention plan.
"Often, the key to a successful relationship will be a teacher's ability to negotiate the expectations of the parent and their own pedagogical beliefs and practices", said Osman, who is also a Board Director for the American Business Council, the Higher Colleges of Technology, Dubai Women's College, the American University of Sharjah, and a former Director of the American School of Dubai.
The new principal
Narendra Mehrotra, who has been appointed as the new High School Principal at Dubai International Academy was introduced to participants during the induction programme.
Mehrotra has worked with the United World College movement for over 17 years, serving in Italy as International Baccalaureate (IB) Coordinator and member of the management committee, and over a decade at the world renowned Pearson College, Canada, where he taught chemistry and served as Director, Student Affairs.
