DIB signs academic cooperation agreement with Higher Colleges of Technology

The move is part of the bank's strategy to develop the next generation of Islamic banking high-flyers, and attached to the scholarships will be the offer of work experience.

The agreement to provide the scholarships was signed at DIB's headquarters by Saad Abdul Razak, the bank's Deputy Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. William Vega, the Higher Colleges of Technology Director. Saad Abdul Razak said: "Today's signing marks an important stage in the development of the banking sector in the UAE.

"This opens up opportunities for some of the country's brighter students to be fast-tracked through the system and become part of an industry elite who will guide the future. We believe that by opening up access to the industry for some of our top scholars we are helping to sustain the high standards we have sought to encourage."

Obaid Al Shamsi, Head of Emiratisation Committee at DIB, said: " DIB enjoys a strong and concrete relationship with Higher Colleges of Technology, and is working with us to ensure that the educational outputs of this college satisfy the labor market's requirements. This enables the graduates to work within several sectors especially the banking and finance sector. The academic programme and teaching method adopted by the higher technical college covers the theoretical and practical aspects of the work. This serves to minimize the training time in the work place."

"One of the main instigators of this programme is Mr. Ahmed Al Sarkal, Human Resources Manager at DIB who also heads the consultancy committee for the banking and financial sectors at the Higher Colleges of Technology. The committee's objective, which played a major role in success of the Higher Colleges of Technology, is to help colleges reach to programs and educational outputs that satisfy the needs of the financial and banking sector in the country.

Dr. William Vega said: "We thank DIB for this initiative which is an example of genuine cooperation between private institutions and academic authorities. We have worked hard over the past years to increase the level of collaboration and we hope that DIB's initiative will encourage more business institutions to take similar steps."

According to the agreement, selected students must maintain a level of excellence throughout the programme.

Students who have completed their scholarships will be considered first as and when vacancies become available at the bank.