Encourage Students to Think About Life After University, says Prof. Glyn Watson

The first global top 100 and Elite Russell Group university to open in Dubai, the University of Birmingham will finally open its doors this September, delivering the same high standards of education as the UK campus.

University of Birmingham Dubai Provost Professor Glyn Watson talks to Edarabia about the plans in store for September, and why Dubai is the best location for the first University of Birmingham hub in the Middle East.

The University of Birmingham is the first global top 100 and elite Russell Group University to open a campus here. Why Dubai?

The University already had significant global reach and impact, through a range of global partnerships, supporting its position at 79th in the QS World University Rankings, and in 2016, a strategic decision was made to expand this global footprint with an overseas campus.

The decision to set up a full branch campus is not one to be taken lightly, as you can imagine, so a lot of due diligence and extensive market research centred on the location.

Geographically, Dubai is well placed for us to reach key strategic markets in South and South East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the Middle East, and offers a strong, credible education hub.

Our vision and ambition for our academic mission are complementary to Dubai’s vision for the future development of the knowledge economy, particularly in Higher Education. We were impressed by the dynamism and entrepreneurial drive of Dubai, and its ambition to become an educational hub for the region.

In addition, Dubai is a stable, safe and attractive location for students to study, and is showing strong long-term market growth potential. The fact that English is so widely spoken also helps!

The University of Birmingham Dubai builds on extensive international research partnerships. Can you tell us more about these alliances?

The University of Birmingham is renowned for its research excellence. Its researchers have received 11 Nobel Prizes (five of which have received their award since 2001). From pioneering organ transplants, discovering gravitational waves and furthering understanding of Shakespeare, to developing cures for cancer, advances in robotics and revealing the structure of DNA, the University has been at the forefront of some of the most ground-breaking discoveries of the last 100 years.

We believe in developing and sharing knowledge to help push back intellectual frontiers, whether we are researching cold energy technology, the properties of gravitational waves, or how to embed social values in business practices, and we, therefore, want to ensure that our research heritage is a core part of what we do.

Our ambition for Dubai is one of strong growth potential and long-term commitment to developing at scale and comprehensively in terms of our education, research and civic contribution to the region.
Many research interests in the region match well with areas of our expertise, in fact, many areas of the UAE’s vision for 2021 and beyond are aligned with aspects of the University’s research endeavour.

Already, a number of academic colleagues from the UK campus have been over to the UAE to explore opportunities to collaborate. We have been assessing the possibilities, and a number of discussions have been developed in key areas, some at the more advanced stages. However, research takes longer to establish – in building the partnerships and the funding streams – to build impact, and we are therefore looking carefully at how we grow our in-country research capacity as well as draw on our expertise from our UK base.

One area where we are hoping to build an early reputation is schools leadership and educational transformation. This is a theme that connects well the UAE’s ambition to create a ‘first-rate education system’, one of the core themes of the country’s 2021 vision.

Meeting the University’s mission and ambition of building a Russell Group university at scale in Dubai, expanding and developing our research base informed by the needs of the region, and making a civic contribution that is connected to the UAE, is equally as important as the role of the campus in continuing to grow our global impact and influence.

Can you tell us more about the upcoming programs and courses that the University of Birmingham Dubai will offer?

As you might expect, our initial offer centres on business, engineering, and education. We are offering undergraduate programmes in Business Management, Economics, Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering. We are also offering Masters programmes in International Business and Computer Science. These will be run in evenings and at weekends, and are available on a part-time, as well as a full-time, basis. In addition to these, we are offering initial teacher education programmes in Primary and Secondary, Maths, English and Science. However, one of the advantages of being a large, comprehensive university is that we offer programmes in almost every subject. Over the next few years, we are looking to add to our initial portfolio with courses in accounting, finance, law, psychology and post-qualifying teacher education.

What would make the University of Birmingham Dubai a preferred choice for students outside the UAE?

We would hope that our reputation as a global top 100 university would be part of our draw, as would be the fact that we have been educating students from around the world for over 100 years.

We now have one of the largest overseas student populations of any university in the UK, with the result that our international alumni networks are extensive. This is important to any prospective student looking to build their career in such a globally interconnected world.

Another pull factor is the UAE itself as a location to study and live. The UAE is rapidly establishing itself as a destination of choice for students looking to pursue their academic careers. Students joining our campus will get the opportunity not just to study at a leading university in one of the world’s top cities; they will also enjoy the opportunity to spend at least part of their studies in the UK, at the Birmingham campus. This will significantly broaden their experience, and improve their employability in what is now a very competitive job market.

How does the University of Birmingham Dubai produce globally employable graduates? How do you plan to continue that legacy here in Dubai?

The University of Birmingham was the Times University of the Year for Graduate Employment in 2015/16. We were awarded this accolade on the basis of the outstanding work of our careers team, as well as our success in placing students in graduate jobs after they finish their degrees. We are bringing this same team to Dubai, to support our students here.

From day one, students will be encouraged to think about life after university and what they need to do to pursue the career of their choice. In their first ‘Fresher’ week, they will engage in an entrepreneurial challenge, which we are running with one of the country’s leading employers. Thereafter, we will support them with getting internships and other forms of placement.

We are looking to introduce the opportunity to spend a year in industry as an assessed part of the programme for our business students. We have been doing this for years in the UK and want to be able to offer the same for our students in the UAE.

Beyond this, we are looking to develop the sorts of analytical and practical skills that employers demand from graduates. After all, a good educational experience will help you to get your first job; but a great educational job will help you to land the job after that, and the one after that.

About Prof. Glyn Watson

Glyn Watson is the University of Birmingham Dubai Provost. He first joined the University of Birmingham as a doctoral candidate in 1992. Initially, he was located in the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLSIS), where he taught on both its undergraduate and post-graduate programmes. He transferred to the Business School in 1994 and received his PhD in 1996.

During his time in the School, his specialist area of research has been governance in business networks. He has focused both on the structural properties of networks and how these properties, in turn, shape and constrain firms’ management choices. This research has led him to work closely with industry and in 2001 he was a joint recipient (along with Andrew Cox and Chris Lonsdale) of a £278,000 research grant from the EPSRC. The output of this research led to the joint-publication of two books and the research itself was assessed by the EPSRC as ‘tending to outstanding/tending to internationally leading’. More recently, he received a £78,000 award (along with Chris Lonsdale) from the Oxford Radcliffe Hospital Trust. This award was to investigate whether or not the Trust was obtaining value for money from its partner suppliers.

Between 2004 and 2007 he was the Programme Director of the subject group’s MBA in Strategy and Procurement Management where he lectures on the subject of International Business Environment.

In June 2009, he was appointed Director of Education for the Birmingham Business School. Glyn was appointed Dean of Birmingham Business School in October 2016.