University for IT education set to open

Children of UAE citizens, other Gulf nationals and expatriates who wish to pursue a career in information technology can now look forward to the opening of AMA International University of Bahrain (AIUB).

The new university, set to open this summer, is the fifth overseas unit of the AMA Education System, a known breeding ground for Internet virus creators and hackers based in Manila.

Dr Amable 'King' Aguiluz V, president of AMA Education System, told Gulf News that AIUB has already acquired a four-story building in Manama to house about 700 students.

"Bahrain is just a stone's throw away from any part of the Gulf, and 25 minutes away from Saudi Arabia via the King Fahd Causeway," said Dr Aguiluz, younger brother of Amable Aguiluz III, the Philippine ambassador to the UAE.

AMA's presence in Bahrain will be good news to parents who wish to give their children quality education without having to go out of the region, he said.

"We also offer an alternative to Filipino parents who work in the Gulf, especially in Saudi Arabia. Many parents here endure the prolonged separation from their college-going children who must be sent back home. That's no longer the case," said Dr Aguiluz.

Classes will start in time for the new school year in September, following the American academic calendar.

The only computer-based university in Asia, AMA Education System has training centres in Singapore, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, and has a university in Bangladesh.

Two years ago, AMA gained notoriety when one of its students was tagged as the author of the 'ILOVEYOU' self-replicating Internet worm that immobilised more than half of the mailservers around the world.

The student went scot-free because Manila had no law at that time to punish cyber crimes. The AMA Education System today has over 150,000 students in over 200 campuses spread all over the Philippines.

Dr Aguiluz recently had an audience with Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain, accompanied by Philippine ambassador to Bahrain Rodolfo Dumapias and Ambassador Aguiluz.

"We share the vision of Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa to make Bahrain a centre of world-class education in the Gulf," Dr Aguiluz said. In the next year or two, AIUB will build its own campus to accommodate 1,000 students, which may include nationals of the GCC, he said.

As for fees and quality of instruction, Dr Aguiluz said: "We're competitive because we don't try to reinvent the wheel. We have incorporated the technology of our industry partners like Microsoft, Cisco, Abaya Communication (AT&T), and the National Computing Centre of the UK (NCC-UK), among others institutions, into our curriculum."

The NCC-UK is the world's largest private IT testing and certification body that is affiliated with the London Guildhall University and is recognised in about 200 countries worldwide.

This enables students pursuing their degree courses to become eligible to take the certification exams of the world's leading IT companies.

"Upon graduation, our students will have the AIUB diploma and the certification from these partners, which will make them very competitive in the regional or even international job market." Dr Aguiluz said that most of the instructors will initially be Filipino computer professionals from Manila.

"If we deem it necessary, we will also hire other nationalities, possibly Indians, to beef up our teaching staff," he said. "The advantage of our students is that they can be primed to take the certification exams even as they pursue their academics."

AMA doubles as a testing centre in the Philippines for the certification exams of leading international IT companies such as Microsoft and Cisco.

The AIUB will also provide short-term courses under its training arm, the People Skills Development Centre, for those who seek formal instruction on specific computer applications or to prepare for certification tests.