The University of Manchester Middle East Centre has inducted its latest cohort of 70 part-time MBA students in the Middle East.

This marks one of the highest ratios of female students in the centre’s 11 year presence in Dubai - 20 per cent of the new cohort are businesswomen and other professionals. The new students began their MBA journey recently with an induction session at the Middle East Centre in Dubai Knowledge Park. The university offers two student intakes per year for the part-time MBA, in January and July.

More than 10 per cent of the new MBA cohort already holds a Masters degree, and 27 per cent are in c-level roles. The large majority of new students are self–funded. More than 20 nationalities are represented in the new intake; almost half of the 70 new students reside in the United Arab Emirates, and around one-third is resident in Saudi Arabia. All the students are highly qualified, experienced professionals (half of the new students have more than 10 years’ experience) working in a range of core industries for the regional economies –oil and gas, engineering/services, manufacturing, construction and real estate.

The University of Manchester’s Global Part-time MBA is a two-year programme with options to accelerate study further, with as much face-to-face time with faculty as most full-time programmes. The programme is structured around four practical themes -Management in Practice; Value Creation in Business; Tailoring Your Journey; Professional Skills for Business; and with options to tailor further.

An accelerated route allows candidates with at least eight years' senior management experience to join the Global MBA Accelerated - a closed, multinational cohort that travels around the world to complete the programme in 18 months. For candidates with professional accountancy qualifications, there is also an 18-month Accelerated Finance Pathway.

Randa Bessiso, Middle East director of The University of Manchester, said: “We have always attracted high calibre students from across the Middle East to our part-time MBA programme – this is one of the reasons we established the regional centre in 2006; this intake is no exception with very highly qualified, experienced and senior level executives choosing to study with us. We are especially delighted to welcome so many accomplished female professionals and businesswomen to the programme.

“In a challenging global and regional economy, all our students will benefit from the outstanding professional and personal development experience, the critical networking opportunities, and the careers services that The University of Manchester offers.“

The University of Manchester Middle East Centre opened in Dubai, in October 2006. The centre has supported more than 2,200 part-time MBA students across the Middle East, and a regional community of around 2,500 alumni. In addition to the Global Part-time MBA, a new portfolio of short courses is being introduced to the region with the launch of a suite of executive education programmes in 2017, in addition to a new range of industry-led Masters programmes. – TradeArabia News Service