Dubai Silicon Oasis has signed a deal with AMA Group Holdings Corp to provide high-tech education to UAE residents.
Dr Mohammad Al Zarouni, vice-chairman of Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO) and director-general of Dafza, and Dr Amable Aguiluz, chairman of AMA Computer University (Amacu) signed a 15-year renewable contract.
Amacu is named after Amable M Aguiluz Sr and was established in 1980 as a small computer training institute in Quezon City, the Philippines.
Dr Aguiluz is also the President of the Philippines special envoy to the Gulf Cooperation Council.
"The key objective of partnering with Amacu is to ensure we have an adequate number of professionals to meet the future needs of" DSO's client companies, Dr Al Zarouni said.
Dubai Silicon Oasis is being promoted as an industrial technology park serving the microelectronics and semiconductor industries.
"It is essential we create a strong academic platform to produce candidates specialised in fields such as microelectronics, semiconductors, optoelectronics and mechatronics [mechanical electronics], who can take up the responsibilities of running and operating high-tech operations here in DSO," Dr Al Zarouni said.
"Our team in DSO is working to put things in place so the new institution can commence operations by 2007," he said.
One of the main goals of Dubai Silicon Oasis is to link up industrial technology and academic circles and thereby serve DSO target customers across the electronics value chain, Dubai Silicon Oasis representatives said.
"As an IT academic leader, Amacu played a premier role in the creation of infrastructure for IT education in a number of countries in Asia and throughout the Arab world," Dr Aguiluz said.
The Amacu-DSO alliance will benefit the region, he said.
