University of Dubai Expectation Vs Reality

In todayís world, we can gain knowledge by reading books; we can get certified online through several learning portals, there are a number of coaching centres we could enrol into. But I believe true learning takes place not only in lecture halls or in a library but more so by understanding the to the life experiences of fellow students and colleagues. I can truly say that two years of job experience has taught me much more about than what I have learnt in 4 years of my under grad studies. I believe there is more potential for gaining knowledge in sitting in a classroom full of students, (especially from those who have industry experience) as compared to looking at a concept from just the authorís perspective while reading a textbook. In the University of Dubai we get just that, we not only get to learn from a diverse faculty, but also students coming from various cultures, different work backgrounds and life experiences. As compared to a traditional university which has a small percentage of student diversity, In the University of Dubai we get to learn from students from all around the world. During our last trimester our work group consisted of a mix of cultures, religions and age groups, we worked with students from China, India, and Pakistan not to mention Arab locals, and the next trimester we would have a whole different work group where students from France would join us.†Dubai being the home to people from various nationalities, our hope was that we could get a whole lot of exposure through first hand interaction. Today as we learn from various cultures, age groups, and life experiences, we can say that we are in route to a truly global education. Working with arrayed batches every term has truly helped us look at the world from a whole new perspective. Sitting in a class with students from different parts of the globe, we are encouraged to share our experiences and hence look at problems from several perspectives and work on how†to tackle them from several approaches. We have been a part of the programme for the last 13 months and we can only say that, it has been a treat!. During our first year in TAPMI, we were taken through a rigorous schedule which covered all the basic modules including Operations, finance Hr and marketing. TAPMIís excellent faculty and well-designed coursework laid a strong foundation for the second year with the University of Dubai. Here, the course itself was designed in order to get the maximum exposure to real world operations; hence the duration of the internship was 9 months long as compared to the standard 3 months most colleges offer. Partaking in an internship for this long a time we are treated as employees of the company and are expected to work on real time issues. Apart from this, the University has encouraged us to work on identifying a problem that the company is currently facing and work on the solution. This is a win-win situation as we get to learn from the real world scenario which is troubling the company at the moment, work on it with the help of our mentors from the university. This sort of exposure leads us for grater learning as compared to any book or simulation. Simultaneously the company is also benefited as it gets a third person perspective on its operations. Apart from our internship and classes, we even get to participate in industry visits from time to time where we get to observe the internal operations of several multinational companies. We also get to experience a live tour of their daily operations, technology used in the workplace today and a detailed look at the companyís culture.   But our journey here hasnít always been smooth. We faced a few hurdles in the form of an added burden to get all of or certificates attested, a few hicks in the form of creation of our emirates ID, insurance cards and the added anxiety with regards to finding the right placement for us.†But the university has been with us through each of these and has taken utmost care to sort out any discrepancies. One of our major concerns before arriving to this new country was about our accommodation and the means of travel. But even before we voiced out these concerns we could see that the university had anticipated these before hand and had already† take utmost care to find the most comfortable accommodation which was close to the our classes, so that transportation would not be a big hassle.   Being students at the university for the past 13 months, we can only say that we have truly received much more than had hoped for and even though there are two more trimesters left before we graduate and even though the job market is always uncertain. We can be rest assured that they would see that we are placed in good companies even before we graduate. As by far they have come out as ones who would really take care of their students.