With a booming job market bolstered by the 2020 World Expo and a new university providing health care management degrees set to open in September the directors of DIAC are bullish that enrolments will grow.

“We want to be number one. It’s a challenging goal but we’ll try”

Speaking with The PIE News, Ibrahim Moosa Jamel, Director of Operations for the Education Cluster of TECOM Investments, said recruiting students has become the centre of the project’s growth strategy.

“We know that we have a good number of universities in our hub so now we are trying to focus more on student recruitment and make our existing partners grow,” he said.

“Our plan is to make sure DIAC and Dubai Knowledge Village contribute to turning Dubai into a knowledge based economy and make Dubai a higher education destination.”

Launched in 2007 by TECOM Investments, a member of Dubai Holding, DIAC currently hosts 21 IBCS catering to some 20,000 students of 125 nationalities. DIAC is keen to make the UAE competitive with leading destinations like the USA and UK. “We want to be number one. It’s a challenging goal but we’ll try,” commented Moosa.

A recent report commissioned by DIAC and carried out by Deloitte surveyed 2,500 students in 17 countries including China and India about their preferred study destinations.

It found that the UAE scored higher than any other emerging education hub in students’ preferred destination for higher education, driven mostly by interest in Dubai.

Expanding into untapped markets is high on the DIAC’s agenda. Officals say the tour around China was “very successful and promising” as students learned they could both study and work English.

“We want to provide the Chinese students a different option of developed countries to study in and market our partners abroad,” said Moosa. “China is a vast market and we are trying to have a piece of that huge pie.”

Recruitment campaigns have already been introduced in Eastern European markets including Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. In addition to China, Moosa says they are starting to see interest from students in the UK and will begin marketing to the Gulf region in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

DIAC sets itself apart from its competitors to by offering degrees and certifications from top institutions at lower prices. Students are also drawn to the region by work opportunities in sectors including Islamic finance, energy, health care and human resources.

The 2020 World Expo and the 2022 World Cup in neighbouring Qatar have also created a huge demand for skilled workers.

“With the Expo 2020 coming there are a lot of opportunities especially in hospitality and logistics because of the new Al Maktoum airport that is being constructed,” said Moosa. “It’s not just Dubai that is benefitting but also the whole region. Qatar is hosting the World Cup, which also opens other opportunities in sports, real estate and construction.”

Officials expect to see a 10-15% growth in enrolments over the next six years as a result of Expo 2020

Moosa says enrolments have already increased due to the Expo and officials expect to see a 10-15% growth in enrolments over the next six years as a result of the event.

In September, the MENA College of Management will start operations offering Bachelor’s degree programmes in the hospitality, health management and human resources sectors.

Officials say the courses have been chosen based on needs of industry but also to support the UAE government’s drive to attract 500,000 medical tourists by 2020 that will see the construction of 22 hospitals.

Prior to MENA joining, one of India’s biggest education groups, Amity University, also announced it was breaking ground on what will be DIAC’s largest campus.