a new Italian school opens in the Emirates

Time.news – It will be the twenty-second Italian school in the Mena region (Middle East and North Africa) and the first with a double exit, that is to say with an Italian diploma and International Baccalaureate (IB) after the one that already exists in San Francisco, in the USA. It has been talked about for years in the United Arab Emirates and finally the construction site is open in Abu Dhabi, among the countless cranes sprouting up everywhere on UAE soil, in a building ferment, if possible, galvanized by Expo 2020 Dubai.

“We are really happy to be able to give this news, especially at a time when so many projects take shape in the frame of the first International Exhibition of the Middle East – says the Ambassador of Italy in Abu Dhabi Nicola Lener, without hiding the satisfaction for the major achievement – Construction is progressing in full swing in the newly developed Khalifa City neighborhood, largely inhabited by expats The federal government has donated the land located near Raha Gardens, showing great interest in the project. We have the full support of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with which they are in close contact, while an established local company identified by the UAE authorities themselves, Reportage Properties, will carry out the construction “.

What is certain is that in the UAE, education is also a great source of business. According to a recent study by ISC Research (research center in the field of international schools based a few kilometers from Oxford), with 725 international schools, 333 of which in Dubai, the country is a world leader in the sector, with a volume of business went from about $ 10 billion to over $ 13 billion in just six years. It is also news these days that Mubadala Capital, a subsidiary of Mubadala, one of the sovereign wealth funds of Abu Dhabi, has acquired a majority stake in Witherslack, one of the main UK groups specializing in schools for children with “special needs” , to open facilities in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The offer is aimed at an increasingly demanding international clientele.

Competition, therefore, is undoubtedly high. Why don’t you build the school in Dubai, where most of the compatriots live?
“Because we believe that the Italian international school in Abu Dhabi will not be the only one, a second school could arise in the future in Dubai. After that of Israel, the Emirates are home to the largest Italian community in the Arab world: 15,000 expatriates, about 12,000 of whom actually live in Dubai. Abu Dhabi, however, has a great cultural vocation, it hosts the Sorbonne, New York University, the Louvre museum, the Guggenheim is under construction. The idea, moreover, is to expand the very rich Emirati offer also with an Italian school which, by virtue of the double output, may also interest families and students of different nationalities, who may have different forms of familiarity with our country. The conditions are there. It will be a private Italian school, equalized, with a strong international vocation, with some curricular subjects taught in English and a few hours of Arabic study, as required by national laws “.

Describe it to us, how will it be? Who will it be named after?
“We are still deciding, but there will undoubtedly be a clear relationship with the history of our country. It will be a large school, capable of accommodating up to 1600 students, from infancy to upper secondary school and will be built on an area of ​​approximately 14 thousand square meters. The building will have a classic style, with a long colonnade that unites the three bodies dedicated to the different school cycles. It will be a campus full of spaces with different purposes, a swimming pool, soccer fields, tennis courts, a theater, it will also have multipurpose spaces to attract those who, through the school, want to get in touch with Italy. There will be forms of collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, the first in the Arabian Peninsula, which is also based here in Abu Dhabi. Let’s think of a cooking school, agreements with a music school, with a football academy. But we think above all of high quality teaching. For the pedagogical approach, in particular for the nursery and elementary classes, we have facilitated contacts with the Reggio Children Foundation, whose method is appreciated and recognized worldwide. For older students, on the other hand, we are thinking of collaborations with leading Italian educational realities connected to the world of technological innovation, to immediately project our young people towards the job market “.

What is the point of collapse of parallel diplomacy? The Emirates have even codified a national soft power strategy (the Soft Power Strategy), launched by the Federation of the seven Emirates in 2017 in the most varied directions, from the humanitarian and health sector to the cultural one.
“This is one of the main international hubs in the world. Exchanges, connectivity are part of the local DNA. A young country, with very solid identity values, but which has made a mantra of openness and tolerance. The Arab Emirates invest in the most varied sectors, following for years the paradigm of economic diversification, starting with green energy, the medical and health sector, aerospace, large infrastructures. They host spin offs of the most prestigious universities in the world and some of the most famous museums. The school offer is an integral part of this project. Italian expatriates, for their part, are often very qualified and appreciated, they are present in all main professional sectors, from university teaching, to law firms, to energy, to infrastructures, to catering and made in Italy with very high quality products. loved by Middle Eastern clientele. There are many ambitious projects that bind our countries. Here there are about 600 Italian companies. In 2020, as regards the value of trade, with 8.4 billion Italy is the eighth trading partner of the UAE and the first among the EU member states. Certainly the Emirates and the Gulf area are strategic for Italy, but the opposite is also true. Connectivity, built around the human being, is the watchword of Expo 2020 Dubai (Connecting minds, creating the future, says the claim). The new Italian International School is certainly destined to become one more node between our two countries ”.

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