As concerns about the deepening global recession increase and jobs continue to disappear, a large number of professionals are using the downturn wisely to retrain themselves, says a business development expert.

Marco Bettelli, director of international business development, SAE Group, which provides a range of programmes in audio engineering, film making, electronic music production and creative media, said that more people consider the global recession an ideal time to refresh or improve their academic and professional qualifications.

“Whether people have been made redundant or aim to increase their competitiveness, improving qualifications is an intelligent option to withstand the impact of the downturn in an increasingly difficult employment market,” said Bettelli.

SAE Institute Dubai, a unit of SAE Group, has recently witnessed a significant increase in the number of enquiries from potential students, he added.

Bettelli was speaking at the end of SAE’s Boot Camp Film Drill, a two-day immersion in filmmaking that drew an overwhelming response from a diverse group of participants aged 15 to 45 years.

The growing popularity of creative education and the relatively diverse and appealing career options that the media sector offers have also contributed to the rising student interest in SAE’s offerings.

Bettelli added: “When we set up in Dubai, we found that parents in the region felt creative media would not provide their children with adequate job security or income in the future.

“Now there is an increasing acceptance of creative media as an attractive career avenue and the SAE Institute Dubai has established itself as a dedicated stand-alone entity in technical education in this sector.”

The SAE Institute entered the Middle East in 2006 with its first campus at the Dubai Knowledge Village, a member of Tecom Investments. Since then, the institute has set up well-equipped facilities in Jordan and Kuwait. – TradeArabia News Service