The UAE Global Management Challenge (GMC), the world’s largest strategy and management competition, is enlisting the help of top education institutions to discuss the progress in the UAE’s skills market.

Delegates from the UAE Global Management Challenge met with the UAE’s master educators, and students, from the American University of Sharjah (AUS), American University of Dubai (AUD) and the Masdar Institute, in a road show that spanned over two weeks.

“This is the first time the UAE is hosting the Global Management Challenge and we are pleased to have our students participate in this,” said Dr Moza Al Shehhi, vice chancellor for Student Affairs at American University of Sharjah.

“We are committed to seeing education advance in the region and initiatives such as Global Management Challenge UAE illustrate the pursuit of leadership skills and knowledge in students.”

The Challenge was officially launched in September last year and is aligned with the UAE’s vision of Emiratisation. The competition encourages professionals and students to participate and a special track for UAE nationals is under review.

“The Competition will provide students with the opportunity to make real-life business decisions that they would not ordinarily be exposed to at this stage in their career,” said Jeanette Teh, assistant professor of Business Administration at AUD.

“As the decisions are multi-disciplinary, the Competition will enable the students to apply content and skills they have learned in their various courses, essentially converting theory into practice in a global context.”

Teh added that AUD’s participation in an international competition will continue to put the university on the map as one of “UAE’s leading academic institutions.

The winning team, or ‘UAE Champion’, will then compete with counterparts from several countries for the world title, to be held in Sochi, Russia in April.

The Challenge consists of a management simulation in which teams of 3 to 5 people, comprising university students and corporates, are given complete control of a virtual company with the objective of obtaining the highest investment performance for their shareholders.

Participants analyse financial and economic indicators, develop corporate strategy, interact within functional areas of a company and gain an in-depth understanding of the market conditions in which their companies compete.

“We are pleased to be in talks with the region’s top education institutes. It is only through a shared vision that we can work together and ensure the success of this competition,” said Mian Muneer Uddin, managing partner of Beaufort Associates, the consulting and advisory services firm that brought the Global Management Challenge to the UAE. – TradeArabia News Service