Companies in the Middle East will now be able to offer their top management customised online graduate executive education programmes through an exclusive partnership between U21 Global and the Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT).

U21Global, the world’s leading online graduate school, and (Cert), the commercial arm of the UAE Higher Colleges of Technology responsible for developing strategic alliances with a variety of multinational organisations to deliver education and training opportunities to public and private sector clients, will work with businesses and government institutions to create unique customised learning experiences based on specific needs and drawn from the extensive and diverse topics that comprise U21Global’s MBA programme and MMIB (master of management in international business) programme.
“An important and distinctive feature of the Corporate Customised Programme is that organisations receive an immediate return on investment,” says Dr Mukesh Aghi, U21Global’s CEO. “Participants must submit a proposal to their superiors describing what they have learned and how they can apply this knowledge to make their departments or business units operate more efficiently and effectively.”
“For U21Global this is a prestigious partnership as through the business network of Cert and through its existing clientele, we will be able to offer our courses to the public and private sectors, which otherwise would be a challenging task,” says Vikram Tah, director, recruitment, Middle East, Africa and Pakistan.  “This partnership will combine top-quality education and technology to accelerate training for local Emirati executives and managers.”
The company would be targeting mainly public sector businesses, where the human resource development is most needed.  Today with the UAE growing at 6 per cent, and with significant capital available due to high oil prices, public sector companies are looking at infrastructural development and require qualified global leaders to execute their plans.
The process involves U21Global’s academic team visiting an organisation and meeting with its HR officers to understand its training and development needs. From this they prepare specifically designed and highly focused courseware to fit the organisation’s specific requirements. U21Global also has the ability to inject industry-specific case studies, which further focuses the programme to the organisation’s unique needs and intended learning outcomes.
Dr Tayeb Kamali, vice-chancellor of Higher Colleges of Technology, says the agreement furthers the centre’s mandate to bring knowledge and foster technology transfer. “The evolving and increasingly challenging business environment in the UAE and across the region requires that managers here have access to the best learning tools available. These programmes help make that happen.”
Drawing on resources from other partners, including Harvard Business School Publishing, the customised programme will include industry-related case studies from Harvard and other leading business schools and in-depth analysis of the regional and global macroeconomic environment.
Cert, U21 Global and Harvard Business School Publishing will award participants either an U21Global Executive Certificate or an U21Global Executive Diploma, depending on how many subjects are included in the customised programme.
The next step will be to partner with similar government organisations around the ME and Africa. “We are already in discussion with government organisations in Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait,” Tah concludes.
The U21 team at Dubai includes Yowan Jodh, executive for recruitment, GCC, and Bilal Sabouni, manager for recruitment, GCC.