French university bringing MBA to Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI // A major international business school based in France is launching an MBA course in Abu Dhabi that it hopes will attract dozens of senior business people from across the region. Insead, which has a centre here funded by the Abu Dhabi Government, will next year bring its executive master of business administration to the capital, aiming to recruit 40 to 50 students from the Gulf, India, Pakistan and the Levant.

The 15-month course will begin in October 2010, and, with teaching concentrated into 12 weeks, participants will be expected to remain in full-time employment. Course administrators expect that financial managers, those running family businesses and even doctors involved in hospital management will sign up. Insead opened in Abu Dhabi in 2007 on the invitation of the emirate, which funds the operation in the capital. The business school's headquarters are in Fontainebleau, France, and it also has a branch in Singapore.

Students in Abu Dhabi will take courses at the two other centres, while some students from France and Singapore will come to Abu Dhabi for short periods. In addition to short courses, Insead here has run an MBA programme tailored for employees of the Abu Dhabi Government. [e-mail]