Academic Global Immersion

As part of a very exciting day in Abu Dhabi our group was fortunate enough to have a meeting with his Excellency Shiekh Nahyan bin Mubarak the Prime Minister of Education. During the exchange we were able to ask several questions regarding education in the UAE, and he was nice enough to pose for a picture with us! The picture ran in most of the arabic news papers as well as on Dubai and Abu Dhabi TV. A special thanks goes out to professor Sidaoui for arranging this meeting! Below is a link to the news story – although it is in Arabic.

http://www.albayan.ae/across-the-uae/education/2012-01-13-1.1572347

Additionally we visited two universities here in the UAE in Zayed University and Higher College of Technologies where we had an amazing new friend Sultan lead us around!

Certainly not to be ignored we also visited Shiekh Zayed Mosque which was an amazing cultural experience!

First off a big thank you to Dubai Properties and Flip Media for hosting us yesterday. The two presentations provided us with insight about the real estate industry and risk management here in dubai, as well as the role of social media in the GCC countries and the evolution of a company from start up to top internet marketing firm in the UAE.

Today we are looking forward to two more visits. One with JWT, a WPP Group Company, and the second with Boeing both of which we are all looking forward to!

Additionally last night we were fortunate enough to go on the Dubai Creek tour which was a different way to experience the city.

USF MBA at Pfizer, Inc. 1.9.12

After another great day of visits with our hosts at Pfizer, Inc., The United States Consulate, and CNN Arabic, our group had a special treat eating dinner at a wonderful Lebanese restaurant, Abd el Wahab, overlooking the Dubai fountain. We had a four course menu and were able to watch several versions of the wonderful show in the shadow of the Burj Khalifa.

After a great day yesterday many of us were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to explore the Dubai Mall for dinner and some “light” shopping. The Dubai Mall is one of the largest malls in the world and contains, in addition to hundreds of designer stores, a world class aquarium which can be seen below.

The Aquarium at the Dubai Mall

Today features visits to:

• Pfizer, Inc.
• The US Consulate
• CNN Arabic

We are all looking forward to another great day!

After an 8 hour layover in Dubai and 16 hours in the air over the north pole, we arrived in sunny San Francisco on Sunday, January 23.  While we all take the time to re-adjust our sleep schedules, students are still compiling photos so that we can feature them here.  On February 4th the class will be meeting one final time to reflect and present some of the topics covered in each student’s required essay (some of which will be posted here after they are reviewed).

For an excellent summary of our trip in the UAE and an informed perspective on doing business in the area, please click here to read a recent blog post written by one of our faculty leads, Cari Guittard.