Synopsis

The rapid expansion of the Gulf business sector over the past decade has led to a surge in demand for management skills in the region. While previous booms have seen much of the region’s management resources provided by expatriate workers, the latest boom has seen local and international businesses seeking to recruit and develop local managers with the right skills.

The result is a surge in demand for high-quality training programmes and academic courses providing business qualifications to executives in the region seeking to acquire the skills needed to develop their careers.

And in particular, this increase in demand for executive education has led to a sharp increase in the number of business schools in the region offering Masters degrees in Business Administration (MBAs).

The growth of executive education in the Gulf

MEED looks at the rapid rise in the region’s executive education sector, at the size of the market in the Gulf, and key providers, new and old. The analysis includes a breakdown of executive education courses including MBAs, eMBAs, MScs in relevant management subjects, as well as PhDs and post-doc programmes in management studies. MEED also assesses the prognosis for demand in the next decade?

MBAs in the Gulf: A history

MEED looks at the development of executive education in the Gulf. With Gulf students having traditionally travelled to the US and Europe for further education, MEED examines when and why executive education providers began to recognise and pursue the opportunities presented by setting up in the Gulf region?

Where to study: the options available to Gulf students

What are students looking for when they choose an MBA?  MEED looks at the executive education options open to Gulf students. At the Gulf-based institutions offering courses, and at the institutions in Europe and the US offering executive education tailored to the needs of Gulf students’ needs.

This article will be accompanied by a table showing what the leading institutions offer students – including course content, what part-time courses are available, and whether scholarships are available etc.

Company-linked MBAs

With many employers backing members of the management team by giving them time off and sometimes funding to study for an MBA. MEED looks at the growing trend for Gulf employers to offer this kind of support. The article includes case studies of people who have studied for MBAs and other executive education courses while remaining at work.

The rise in research

Management is becoming increasingly popular as a research subject for doctoral students. MEED looks at the research facilities offered by the Gulf’s education providers to MBA students wanting to continue their executive education studies. And at the post-doctoral research programmes available in the region?

MEED List

The most important figures in the Middle East’s business schools