After starting work on the project at the end of 2019, EM Normandie welcomed the first 60 students in academic immersion to its Dubai campus last September. Its Bachelor International Management and two Masters will open at the start of the 2023 academic year. It will recruit 70% of international students, including locals. Business Cool was there. We tell you!
Why did EM Normandie set up in Dubai?
By opening a new campus in Dubai after those in Oxford and Dublin, theEM Normandy pursues the first axis of its 2030 strategic plan: “worlds to explore”. ” We want to have a campus on every continent in a port-world citysummarizes Elian Pilvin, director general of the school. Dubai is our first destination. It is a hub for higher education, a new stronghold for establishments wishing to participate in knowledge production and anchor in the spirit of innovation which carries all this area of the world. »
On the spot, higher education is structured more visibly since the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Dubai, Mohammed ben Rashid Al Maktoum, showed his political will to place education at the heart of regional development. It is even the first of its priorities to build the future of the entire Gulf over the next 50 years. The UAE wants to become a global hub dedicated to knowledge, sustainable development and innovation. Education has therefore been identified as one of the 4 key areas of investment along with the economy, government development and community cohesion.
And higher education is not the only one concerned: the French government, this time (see President Emmanuel Macron’s speech on the defense of the Francophonie in the world), encourages the opening of new French high schools in addition to the 7 already present in the area, including 5 in Dubai, for a total of 12,000 students. French is spoken by 300,000 people in the Emirates. And more than 600 companies have their head offices, branches/subsidiaries or departments there, with significant needs to recruit young graduates trained locally in the challenges of the region. So many reasons for EM Normandie to come and set up there on its own
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Foreign universities and French schools present in Dubai
Several higher education institutions are located in Dubai, including many Anglo-Saxon ones (British University, London Business School, Middlesex University, etc.), operating according to the model that has remained dominant in the United Arab Emirates since the end of the english protectorate (1892-1071). French side, The Sorbonne and INSEAD have been pioneers by settling in Abu Dhabi in 2007. Fifteen years later, only a few specialized schools have an address in Dubai (ESMOD, École 42 and Rubika, which plans to set up there) and there is only one French business school there: EM Normandie, therefore, which has just opened its campus in the heart of Dubai Knowledge Park. However, ESCP has also installed an antenna and offers training in Dubai.
But others may follow. Dubai continues to expand and, if French institutions are receptive to calls from local authorities, determined to make this territory an international hub for higher education, French students could benefit from new prospects in the heart of the UAE.
On site, EM Normandie obtained the official agreement to deliver its Bachelor’s degree there, by the CAA (Commission for Academic Accreditation), which allows it to be identified as a local university and to issue a recognized degree within the Emirates. The business school is continuing with compliance for the two Masters that it is also opening in Dubai at the end of 2023. This accreditation is one of the most difficult to obtain. The nearly 200-page document describes each of our objectives and our educational processes, in particular by going into a very high level of detail. », specifies Elian Pilvin. Note that EM Normandie also has the international triple crown since it has Equis, AACSB and AMBA accreditations!
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EM Normandie: a 1,500 m2 campus in the heart of Dubai Knowledge Park
Arranged around a modern and very bright central reception area, the EM Normandie campus in Dubai has rooms and spaces for all sizes of groups and all formats of work, fully equipped to promote exchange, including with other school campuses. There is notably a fablab, a learning center, a student lounge and even a gaming zone. It extends over 1,500 m² on the 3rd and last floor of a building of which it could quickly occupy the 2nd floor as well. The school plans to host around 700 students by 2026which will benefit from the advantages of Dubai Knowledge Park, a district dedicated to higher education close to shops, transport and the island of Palm Jumeirah in particular.
More than 14,000 students of all nationalities rub shoulders there in universities all over the world. One circulates there as on an American campus, along a wide alley which serves the buildings of the various establishments. Supermarket, pharmacies, banks, restaurants… all amenities are very easily accessible.
The Dubai Knowledge Park is a free zone with its own regulations, delimited by the local authorities and piloted by TECOM Group, whose representatives have been the interlocutors of EM Normandie throughout the negotiations for its installation on site. The city operates in districts dedicated to different activities: Motor City, Internet City, Media City, etc.
The particularity of Dubai Knowledge Park? TECOM is responsible for the construction and maintenance of the buildings made available to the establishments. The company manages the administrative aspect and facilitates the relationship with the local educational authorities. ” Dubai’s 10-year strategy is to attract “global universities” and in particular to import French education, which justifies that we welcome EM Normandie to our country.develops Ammar Al Malik, general manager of the educational cluster of TECOM Group. It’s a perfect “fit” between the expertise of this French business school and the needs of the region. We need talent from all over the world for our businesses and to develop our knowledge economy » and are proud of this partnership. »
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EM Normandie programs in Dubai
The 60 French students present at the beginning of 2023 on the Dubai campus of EM Normandie are in the 3rd and 4th years of the Grande École Program. 42 L3 students and 17 M1 students have been on site since last fall to one academic semester. But they will become a minority in terms of numbers in a few months, when the business school will have opened its BachelorInternational Management and the two Masters: International Logistics & Port Management as well as’International Marketing & Business Development which will be launched in 2023. From 2026, it plans to welcome 705 students, 30% of whom will come from its French campuses during the academic semester. Within these programs, taught entirely in English, the school wishes to recruit a majority of internationals and locals attracted by the advantages of this area of the world. They will come from the Gulf, India, Asia and even English-speaking Africa.
A dozen professors have also been recruited to form the permanent faculty installed on the EM Normandie campus in Dubai, which will also receive professors from other campuses for specific modules. On site, the government ensures that the teaching provided by the establishments that set up there corresponds to the expertise that they have identified as being useful for the development of the city and the territory. The business school, one of whose historic campuses is located in Le Havre, near one of the largest European ports, has therefore logically deployed Masters around the issues logistics and port.
Eventually, she wants to offer three other Masters in Dubai: Digital Marketing & Sales, Artificial Intelligence for Marketing Strategy and Marketing & Digital in Luxury & Lifestyle, as well as a Euro-Asia MBA. Each program will have a corporate sponsor (Carrefour, DHL, CGM, etc.) who will be associated with the lessons and will offer internship experiences in particular. Local companies are very keen on young graduates in sectors that are recruiting heavily: logistics, IT project management, digital business, marketing & sales in particular.
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Overcome the controversies associated with Dubai
EM Normandie does not establish itself in Dubai with its eyes closed. Aware of the questions that its installation in the heart of this city, the subject of controversy (place of women, respect for human rights, attention to the environment, etc.) and associated, in France, with a superficial image, the school remains focused on its mission: to expose its students to specific learning contexts and help them form their own opinions based on these experiences. The business school is also working with several French companies to prepare their presence at COP28which will take place in Dubai. ” The future is also taking shape from Dubai, which is participating in the transformation of the world. The city is not beyond reproach, but we are not here to judge, but to enable our students to be the actors of a sustainable world, to lead collective reflections, to find innovative solutions for the planet with students who are not French “, answers Elian Pilvin.
EM Normandie students will come across internationals on and off campus! In Dubai, 80% of the population is non-Emirati. ” The city has a capacity to attract expatriates from all over the world and to integrate in a tolerant way women and men of all nationalities observe Florence Bulte, Chief Sustainability Officer of the Chalhoub Group, and Anne-Lise Berthon, Senior Manager Brand PR for the Intercontinental Group, two graduates of the school who have been living there for about ten years. Besides this very aspect cosmopolitan, what are the main assets of Dubai? ” It is a city at the heart of a young region which has a clear vision of its development and the means to drive it, as well as strong capacities for innovation. Career progression is often rapid and on assignments with a strong international content. »
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