Oxford to launch IT programme

Abu Dhabi // The University of Oxford hopes to attract senior corporate staff to an information technology course its business school is launching in September. The university's Said Business School will work with Gartner, an IT research and training company, in crafting the CIO Academy. About 40 spaces will be available, officials said. The UAE is the third country to be host to the CIO Academy; the others are in the US and Britain. "We were in discussions with Oxford University as to where to do this, and they had a preference for Abu Dhabi because of their connections at senior levels within Abu Dhabi," said Myles Bird, Gartner's country manager in the UAE.

"We concluded it was an excellent place as far as market demand will be from an IT perspective." The programme aims to give participants a "broader perspective" on management and leadership. The Said Business School will provide staff to teach the two-day course. "Delivering this programme in the Gulf is an exciting yet natural step for the university," said Professor Michael Earl, Oxford's acting pro-vice-chancellor for development and external affairs, in a statement.

Among the other universities with interests in the UAE are Harvard, which set up the Harvard Medical School Dubai Centre, and the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, opened in Abu Dhabi in 2006. [e-mail]