One of the pillars of Dubai’s New Economy, the Dubai Knowledge Village (KV), ushers in a new era in education and training for the UAE.

Located in the Dubai Technology and Media Free Zone in close proximity to Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City, the knowledge-powered initiative of Dubai hosts the best names that shape modern economy through contemporary tools of training.
 The Dubai Knowledge Village indeed shapes tomorrow’s professionals. Through close co-operation with its well-entrenched affiliate entities, KV collaborates with the business community and renowned educational institutions from around the world to create an unparalleled learning environment.
 While it serves, essentially, as a one-stop shop for all educational and business needs, KV is also a vital link between businesses and educational institutions by putting in place a high performing and adaptable technology infrastructure. A vibrant, environment rich with networking opportunities and offering easy access to a large pool of knowledge workers, KV offers educationalists and investors the convenience of ensuring smooth conduct of business through straightforward laws and regulations, total foreign ownership and a totally tax-free environment.
 Since its inception in October 2003, KV has been forging strategic alliances across the world through tie-ups with prestigious educational organisations and fostering links with key businesses that drive the Knowledge Economy. By hosting dignitaries around the world, KV also underscores a new strength of Dubai – quality education that helps build a significant workforce that can thrive and drive the New Economy.
According to Dr Ayoub Kazim, executive director, Dubai Knowledge Village, the entity is specifically founded to bring reputable education and training institutes to Dubai and the UAE. “We are in the process of moving to a knowledge-based society and it is necessary to ensure the availability of the right skills, the right expertise and human capital to meet the market demands of today and tomorrow,” he says.
In its bid to bring in new levels of educational competency to the region, KV recently hosted a top-level team of professionals from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc  (IEEE) “We have a young and growing base of talented and skilled people and we realise the need to interact with world-class institutions such as the IEEE so that our professionals with technical background can gain from exposure to the best that is available worldwide,” said Kazim.
 Dr Kazim had met officials of Nafsa, the world’s largest associa-tion for educational exchange. “Dubai Knowledge Village is keen to build ties with international organisa-tions like Nafsa to promote academic exchanges between the Middle East and the US,” said Dr Kazim.  
“Such interaction can significantly contribute to boosting larger social interaction between the two regions and promoting greater understanding of each other’s cultures. Exchanges with other regions are essential to the overall development of our region’s educational sector,” he added.
With many renowned educational institutions in its roster – from the UK, Australia, Belgium and France to India and Pakistan – KV also works to build educational exchange programmes between the UAE and Western universities. In line with this objective, KV had partnered with AIESEC, the world’s largest student-run organisation, to offer the Salaam Programme, an overseas work placement initiative for students in the UAE. The programme is run in cooperation with the US State Department’s Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs.
The initiatives of KV have been lauded with many awards including the Network Middle East (NME) Innovation Award for the ‘Best Use of Networking Technology in the Academia Sector.’
“We believe that if we are to provide educational services to create the leaders and innovators of tomorrow, we ourselves have to be leaders and innovators,” said Dr Kazim. “Technology is a great enabler and we have embraced it wholeheartedly to enhance our services to rank with the best in the world.”
Apart from having the British Council as its Educational Partner, KV has many well-established international universities that operate as foreign branches of a university, college or school that provides accredited academic programmes and degrees. They include: the Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani; European University College, Heriot Watt University, Institute of Management Technology, Islamic Azad University (Iran), Mahatma Gandhi University, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (India), Middlesex University (UK), the Royal College of Surgeons (Ireland), SAE Institute (Australia), Saint-Petersburg State University of Engineering and Economics, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (Pakistan), The British University in Dubai, UAE University, University of New Brunswick and University of Wollongong.
“Education has a key role to play in the continued development and diversification of Dubai’s economy,” said Dr Kazim. “Organisations at KV can play a vital role in building the pool of skilled management professionals here.”
The SP Jain Centre of Management Development is a management development centre that provides specialised short- and long-term non-degree programmes on organisational and executive development in areas such as strategy, marketing, finance, operations, human resources and general management.
 Online universities with KV as base include Syrian Virtual University and Universitas 21 Global Pte Ltd. They provide accredited, full on-line academic programmes and degrees. Career Consultants FZ-LLC (City of London College, UCE Birmingham, Kingston University, Coventry University, University of Wales, Swansea) is an academic service provider representing and providing support services to international accredited universities and colleges.
Some of the E-learning providers include the C-PI Educational Systems and School Management Services, DigiCom World, eArts Consulting, InnoKAT, Innovation Business Factory International, Learning Zone, Mondesic TechKnowledge, Plutus Systems, Road Ahead Group, Mind Direct, SunGard SCT, Universal Knowledge Solutions and Xpert Learning.
In all, KV is home to over 16 international universities from Australia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Belgium, the UK, France, Ireland, Scotland and Canada. The cluster also has over 300 professional training institutes and numerous academic support entities. 
KV, today, has institutions offering a wide spectrum of courses including film-making, mass communication, animation, audio engineering and health care. These add to the list of undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA programmes offered in fields such as business, engineering, IT education and allied health.  
All the programmes have gained tremendous response from the student community. While the six new courses offered in 2005 – filmmaking, mass communication, animation, audio engineering and health care – account for some 30 per cent of the total undergraduate student population, post-graduate opportunities doubled with over 2,000 students enrolling during 2005-06 as against 1,000 in 2004-05.
“The increasing diversity of programmes and students strengthens Dubai’s status as a destination for international education,” said Dr Kazim. “One of the most exciting facts is the doubling of post-graduate students, which enables KV to play a key role in the development of Dubai’s business community.”
During 2005, KV enjoyed a 50 per cent growth in student enrolment as well as a significant increase in student diversity. More than 63 nationalities were represented at KV with students coming from India, Pakistan, Iran, the UAE, the UK, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, Moldovia, Kenya, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and Bulgaria.
KV has a reperoire of more than 350 human resource development centres that specialise in HR development activities including the recruitment of knowledge workers. Also on its roster are centres for professional training, R&D, innovation, testing and freelance education support. The entity also has retail facilities and exclusive trainers.
Recently, KV unveiled the expansion initiative at Dubai Academic City, a mega-campus of a built-up area of 24.8 million sq ft for international universities. The first and second phase, which will host campuses of a number of international universities, will be operational by September 2006. The new location is planned to host at least 30 international universities with an estimated student population of 40,000 students by 2010.  Dubai Academic City is a strategic educational initiative launched by UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The new project expansion at Dubai Academic City will also have a comprehensive R&D centre, a student activity zone along a long boulevard, a Student Centre, recreation zone and retail area. A Visitors’ Centre will cater for the needs of international universities and will accommodate a food and retail area including book stores, an office for students and meeting spaces. Other facilities include auditoriums, clinics, hotel and conference facilities and a co-operative store.
The new campus will facilitate KV’s strategy of promoting linkages between the academic community and industry through the proximity of its R&D centre with the Dubai Outsource Zone. This educational zone has a strategic geographical positioning with accessibility to Sharjah, Ajman, Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. 
“Dubai Knowledge Village has gone a long way towards fulfilling the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to nurture talent and accelerate the region’s move to the knowledge economy as well as develop Dubai into a global learning hub,” said Dr Kazim. “The exponential growth that KV has experienced vindicates our faith in the vision.”
According to him, the key factor in the success of KV is the rising demand in the region for quality education and related services. “The educational sector in the country has seen an increasing maturity and sophistication with the deployment of next-generation technologies and the introduction of new vocational and professional training institutes, e-learning centres and academic consultancy services.”