Page 222 - Aamir Rehman - Dubai & Co Global Strategies for Doing Business in the Gulf States-McGraw-Hill (2007)

204 Dubai & Co.

match. Add to this that public-sector and local firms can generally
offer locals an Arabic-speaking workplace as opposed to an office in
which they will need to use English, and the challenge of attracting
local talent seems even more daunting.
Multinational firms must acknowledge that their employment
proposition appeals to a certain subset of the local community: those
who seek international exposure, enjoy using English, want to learn
global best practices, and value the standards and traditions of
multinational businesses. Not every GCC national fits this mold.
The good news, however, is that many do—especially early on in
their careers. Often that is the time to bring local talent on board.

Village and City: Competing for Global Education Partnerships

As the need—and market—for world-class educational facilities
in the region has intensified, Gulf states have begun actively
competing to bring in leading academic institutions. Two prime
contenders in this healthy rivalry are Dubai, largely through its
Knowledge Village, and Qatar, through its Education City. Both
have managed to attract a diverse set of international institutions to
establish official, degree-granting branches in the Gulf states.
Dubai Knowledge Village’s “Partners” come from a remark-
able range of countries including the UK, Australia, France,
Belgium, India, Pakistan, and even Russia. The diversity of degree
programs is likewise impressive: business, technology, engineering,
management, and even fashion are among the disciplines in which
students can study in Dubai and receive accredited degrees from
global institutions. 25 The Dubai International Financial Centre
(DIFC) has formed a partnership with the Cass Business School in
London for an Executive MBA program in Dubai. Besides a general
MBA, students can choose to specialize in Energy or in Islamic
Finance, two fields of immense interest in the region. 26
Qatar’s Education City has taken a different approach, focusing
on highly regarded US institutions. Qatar has attracted Weill Cornell
Medical College, Carnegie Mellon, Texas A&M, the Georgetown
School of Foreign Service, and the Virginia Commonwealth School of
the Arts to establish degree-granting branches in their respective
areas of core competence. The Qatar branches follow the same
27
rigorous curricula as their international partners. As Qatar’s local