Dubai, July 3rd, 2006 (WAM) - The British University in Dubai (BUiD) hasdesigned a new Masters Degree in IT Management in partnership with theUniversities of Edinburgh and Manchester in the UK, which will train studentsto successfully manage IT projects as well as teams of IT developers.

"Technology can have a major impact on the success of different organisationsbut it needs to be applied effectively and according to a realistic plan.

There are many examples of projects in the region falling short due toa lack of effective project management, and this course - the first ofits kind in the region - is designed to provide the human resource necessaryto make such projects work,"said Dr. Habib Talhami, Head of the Instituteof Informatics and Senior Lecturer at BUiD.

Executives at the University are confident that successful graduates willprove to be highly employable within the region.

"Talented project managers are in demand internationally, and particularlywithin the Gulf region, where there is a great deal of new developmentand an insufficient number of professionally-trained individuals. We hopethat the creation of a new pool of qualified, locally-trained IT Managerswill be warmly welcomed by regional organisations," said Dr. Dr. MohammedDulaimi, Head of the Institute of Engineering, BUiD.

Industry experts present at the ceremony agreed with BUiD's diagnosisof current regional trends.

"The buoyant GCC market is increasing the demand for IT managers and localtalent is required to develop the regional ICT sector," said David Brierley,Regional Manager, Cognos Middle East and Africa.

"This in turn will contribute to the creation of new industries. A country'sreal growth and progress is measured by the skills and capacity of itsworkforce. There is real potential in this region and I believe we havea responsibility to develop local talent and facilitate knowledge transferto build the local expertise," added Brierley.

Modules on the programme include Strategy, IT Project Management, DataMining & Exploration, Knowledge Management, Applied Databases, Cost andValue Management and People and Culture.

"One of the major objectives of the course is to provide students withthe skills that are crucial to understanding the new knowledge-based economywhile looking to empower graduates with a competitive advantage in thejob market," said David Lock, Registrar and Acting Chief Executive ofBUiD.