The first cohort of Cass Business School's Executive MBA (EMBA) in Dubai has begun with over 30 students taking part. While many on the course are executives in the United Arab Emirates, several others are also commuting from the region and areas beyond such as Jordan, Qatar, London, Brussels and New York.

Launched in association with the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the Cass Dubai EMBA is the world's first EMBA programme offering specialist streams in Islamic Finance and Energy.

Dr Hassan Hakimian, Associate Dean for Off-Campus Programmes at Cass who led the initiative, said: "The attraction of the programme to cross-border commuters confirms the popularity of Dubai not only as an emerging regional hub for business, tourism and finance, but also potentially for the quality of business education programmes on offer."

The launch of the Dubai-based EMBA programme offers executives and professionals from the GCC region an opportunity to combine demanding work schedules with an internationally acclaimed EMBA nearer to their home and work environments.

Dr Hakimian added: "For those from outside the region, MBA skills are combined with real opportunities to establish new business relations and to network in a thriving and vibrant business environment".

Classes will be delivered by Cass academics who visit Dubai to deliver workshops over one long weekend each month. In between classes, the School's online learning platform, CassLearn, is used for online tutorials, group discussion and research.