Rosetta Stone marks expansion plans with launch of first Middle East office

Rosetta Stone's new office opening is in line with Middle Eastern governments' focus on developing and delivering leading edge education for their citizens.

"In addition to the Americas, Europe and Asia, our new Dubai office truly conveys our commitment to the Middle East's innovative education initiatives," said Donavan Whyte, Vice President of Sales, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Rosetta Stone. "Our investment is a testament to our confidence in the region and to our vision of being a critical partner in language education for governments, businesses and educational institutions that help drive some of the regions critical and most impactful education strategies."

Already a recognized global leader in technology-based learning, and having collaborated with a number of institutions in the Middle East, Rosetta Stone has been meeting the language-learning needs of schools and organizations since 1992. More than 8,000 corporations, 9,000 public and non-profit agencies, 20,000 educational institutions and millions of learners worldwide can attest to Rosetta Stone's ability to transcend borders and provide tools to build meaningful relationships and engage today's digital students.

The World Bank Reported early last month that public expenditure on education in the region stands at 18.6 per cent of total government spending, compared to the world average of 14.2 per cent. Bahrain is currently focusing on e-learning as the foundation of its Schools Improvement Project (SIP).

Other Middle East Innovative Initiatives

United Arab Emirates

The government launched its Smart Learning Initiative, which aims to modify the current public school system by introducing 'smart classes' where each student will be provided with an electronic tablet and access to high speed 4G networks.

Qatar

The Supreme Education Council recently began an initiative to provide students in ten independent schools with laptops containing educational applications in line with the standards of the national curriculum.

Oman

The Ministry of Education reported that its students now can access books from their curriculum digitally and workshops have been created for teachers to receive training for new classroom technologies that are being implemented.

Saudi Arabia

The Ministry of Education has begun an e-learning pilot project in schools and has committed an IT department responsible for implementing ICT in schools.

Kuwait

The Ministry of Education seeks to improve teaching methods and to modify its national curriculum by incorporating more information and communication technology in the classroom.

"Rosetta Stone was founded 20 years ago, and over the course of time we have seen how language education changes people's lives," said Whyte. "We look forward to sharing that knowledge with our Middle Eastern clients and partners. The World Bank Report findings underscore the region's focus on cultivating its citizens to ultimately develop a workforce that will compete in the global economy with solid skills and language knowledge is integral to that vision."