Emaar unit to set up varsity in India

Emaar Education, a subsidiary of Emaar Dubai, is setting up a private university in India through its arm Raffles International, which will start functioning by April, a senior executive of the company revealed to Emirates Business.

Celia Her, Vice-President, Marketing and Admissions, Emaar Education, said: "We have a plan to start the Raffles International University in Jaipur, Rajasthan, which will provide higher education in business studies, information technology, science, art, hospitality and other subjects. The university is being started in collaboration with Gamber Education Foundation and is likely to start formal operations by April. Recruitment has been progressing for the faculty and senior staff."

Recently, India officially opened its higher education sector for foreign investment and many business groups and non-resident Indian investors have been keenly looking at the higher education market in the country. Some leading foreign universities are also looking at the Indian market.

Raffles International School, under Emaar Education, has already got a boarding school in Jaipur with about 1,000 students. Another Emaar venture in India, Emaar MGF, a joint venture of Emaar Properties PJSC and India's MGF Land Limited, has big construction and residential projects in India and Emaar's education business is expected to complement the residential projects in the second most populous country in the world.

Emaar Education acquired Singapore-based Raffles Campus Pte Limited, a premier education provider, in September 2006 to spearhead its projects in the education sector.

Raffles Campus has campuses in Singapore, Dubai, India and Vietnam. According to an official of the company, Raffle Campus is projected to manage and operate more than 100 educational institutions, including nurseries, international schools, business and hospitality schools, with an emphasis on an integrated model of education from the early development ages in the nursery and kindergarten through to the maturity ages in the tertiary levels.

These educational institutions are located close to or within Emaar's master planned communities in the Middle East and North Africa regions and key international markets. The Raffles International School near Jaipur, established by Gomber Education Foundation, has a 25-acre campus at Behror, midway between Delhi and Jaipur.

Raffles International School, Dubai, licensed by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, has two campuses in Umm Suqueim. Its School of Hospitality Management is starting a hospitality management diploma course in collaboration with Edexcel of the UK, part of Pearson Plc, the world's largest education services company. It has tied up with leading international hotel chains such as the Address Hotels to train hospitality staff.

Edexcel works with more than 5,000 secondary schools, 450 further education colleges, 70 higher education institutions and more than 700 employers and training providers. Internationally, Edexcel operates in 112 countries and produces more than four million graduates per year.

Raffles Campus also has a long-term strategic agreement with the Box Hill Institute of Australia, to provide technical and further education programmes in all its campuses from |Asia and the Mena region.

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