São Paulo – Brazilian university Unicesumar launched a Distance Learning facility last Tuesday (19) in Dubai, the UAE (pictured above). The unit is the second in an internationalization plan launched a year ago. The university has campuses in Maringá and Curitiba, Paraná. The first non-domestic facility opened in Miami, USA. The 34 courses in Dubai will be available in Brazilian Portuguese.
“We’ll look into the opportunities, we’ll look for places where there are Brazilians. That’s how we got to the Middle East and Dubai. We really do believe in that region. We are the first ones to offer courses for Brazilians in Dubai,” Unicesumar executive vice president for Distance Learning Willian de Matos Silva told ANBA. It tooks six months’ worth of studies to gather data on the emirate. “The business strategy is not exclusively about Dubai. There’s a wide array of affordable air routes across the region. And this methodology [distance learning] allows non-residents to commute to the center when the time comes to take exams,” explained Silva.
According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about 10,000 Brazilians are living in the UAE. This is the target audience for Unicesumar, whose local manager in Dubai is Miguel Romeiro. A former Unicesumar professor, he’s been living in the emirate for over five years now. “We’re aware that many of the people who live here did not complete their graduate studies back in Brazil, but they are seeking education more and more. We are offering them the opportunity to pursue a degree, and more importantly, in Portuguese,” a press release quoted Romeiro as saying.
In Dubai, the new center will host onsite exams, as well as handle documentation and payment procedures. According to Unicesumar, it will cater to 500 to 750 students at first. Another goal for the learning center is to get double Brazil-UAE certification, which would mean graduate degrees would be valid locally as well as in Brazil – as is the case with the Miami facility. Unicesumar expects to add postgraduate courses in the mid-run, and to eventually get to 90 different courses.
The university declined to disclose how much investment went into the new facility. According to the vice president for Distance Learning, the key challenge right now is building up the brand during this first year. Online medias will be the primary avenue for promotion.
Graduate courses available include Administration, Agribusiness, Systems Analysis and Development, and Accounting Sciences. The Unicesumar facility in Dubai is located in the Oud Metha Offices Building, in Healthcare City. The university has over 560 units in Brazil.
Quick facts
Polo Unicesumar em Dubai
Oud Metha Office Building, 1st floor – GRG Business Center – Healthcare City – Dubai – EM
Contacts: +971 4 04387-1377 / polo-dubai-uae@unicesumar.edu.br
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum