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DAE University, which will provide a wide range of academic degrees and apprenticeship programs, will be fully developed by 2015, when 8,000 students a year will pass through its doors. It will be located within the DAE site at Dubai's Jebel Ali Airport City, which is expected to become the world's largest aviation hub.
The first key partnership with Cranfield University targets specifically higher academic education, enabling DAE University to offer a complete range of Cranfield-supported aerospace subjects and MsC / PhD degrees. In the near future DAE University will team up with additional leading aerospace Universities to offer undergraduate and aviation specific MBA programs, complementing the Cranfield University offering.
Dr. Mohammed Al Zarouni, DAE's Managing Director said:
"DAE University offers something completely new to the region and is an important foundation stone of DAE's master plan that will see the creation of an aerospace powerhouse with its base in Dubai.
"The University is absolutely fundamental to the overall plan and will provide a stream of highly skilled, superbly trained and very able professionals from the region to support the developing industry. It is crucial that we are able to provide the means to enable homegrown talent to develop at home. Equally, we are proud to offer a facility that will contribute to the region's resources and add value to its human capital.
"The investment is an investment for the future of the aerospace industry in the region and for the future of our people who will have access to a form of advanced and specialized training that would previously have been very difficult to come by."
DAE University will closely follow the established Cranfield model, principally offering advanced and research degree courses in aerospace and aviation. Cranfield will be fully involved with DAE in structuring the courses and establishing criteria for student selection and staff recruitment.
It will draw on its existing knowledge base and the cutting edge expertise that has led to it becoming established as one of the premier global educational institutions in its sector to create the necessary course materials to successfully offer Continuing Professional Development, Master and PhD programmes. Cranfield, which will maintain an 'on-site' presence at DAE University, will participate in initiating and overseeing postgraduate research and with DAE University will put together a joint academic team to determine details of its offering and develop a roll-out schedule.
Dr. Paul Marshall, Head of Cranfield University Aerospace, said: "DAE University is certain to rapidly become one of the leading educational institutions of its type anywhere in the world. There is genuine commitment from the founders, for all the right reasons, and this is supported by the strength of the demand in the region for just such a resource.
"We welcome this opportunity to participate in what I am convinced will soon come to be regarded as one of the defining developments in aerospace this century. It puts the extension of the global industry on a solid footing and will add to the research and knowledge on which this industry - far more than most - relies."
As part of its contribution to establishing DAE University, Cranfield has committed to delivering its own branded awards and validation for degrees based on its curriculum but awarded in Dubai and meeting Dubai Ministry of Education requirements. Dr Zarouni said: "We have partnered with the best in order to create the best. DAE University will be a first class institution nurturing the talent in the region to make a full contribution to the development of the global industry."
Posted by Lara Lynn Golden, News Editor
