Dubai Men's College

Dubai Men's College
Motto	Learn Today, Lead Tomorrow
Established	1989
Type	Public Polytechnic College – within the Higher Colleges of Technology national college system of the United Arab Emirates.
Director	Dr. Leo Chavez
Associate Director	Mr Phil Corcos
Location	Academic City, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Website	http://dbm.hct.ac.ae/

Dubai Men’s College (DMC), one of the first Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), is a government-funded higher education institution located in Academic City, Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). HCT, the largest higher education institution in the UAE, was established in 1988 and was designed to educate and empower UAE nationals. DMC is committed to providing the highest quality, career-oriented education in a dynamic and positive atmosphere that encourages creativity, intellectual fluency and constructive thought.

DMC provides Bachelor and Associate degrees in the fields of applied communications, business and financial services, electrical and civil engineering technology, health sciences, and information technology. English is the medium of instruction. A foundation program has been designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills required to be successful in a challenging higher education environment. On completion of the foundation year students may select from more than 30 programs. These programs are geared to the needs of the public and private sector in both the region and the world at large. Industry advisory boards assist the College and the Higher Colleges system in setting relevant skill requirements, which in turn are benchmarked against international academic standards. From September 2009, HCT’s executive MBA program will be offered at the DMC campus.

The annual average enrollment is 2000 students and as of mid 2009, 5,372 students have graduated from the college. Many of these graduates now hold senior positions both in UAE government institutions and private industry and are making a substantial contribution to the growth of the UAE and regional economy.

In the 2008/09 academic year the college enrolled 384 foundation students, 424 diploma students, 833 higher diploma students, 274 bachelor students and employed 111 faculty. In total DMC has 200 staff members from 20 different countries. This provides a cosmopolitan environment which enhances the global awareness of the students and helps prepare them for the realities of modern life.

Over the years DMC has gained a widespread reputation of excellence and quality in applied and professional education. The strong ties developed with business and industry entities ensure rewarding employment opportunities for graduates. 98% of the 2007/08 graduating class was employed in their chosen field according to a poll conducted in November 0f 2008. Many organizations and corporations have entered into partnerships with DMC to provide development and training programs for their particular workforce.

History

DMC was established in 1989 by His Excellency Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chancellor of the HCT, as one of the first four Higher Colleges of Technology in the country. DMC’s first home was a former car show room. With nine classrooms, two twenty-station computer labs, an electronics lab, a physics lab and a civil engineering lab, the college welcomed its first batch of 95 students on 9 September 1989. Programs were offered in the business and technology fields with a foundations program to assist those students who needed to improve their language and numerical skills before entering a specialized field. The college was located on the Dubai-Sharjah road, near Dubai Airport. This provided a good opportunity not only for Dubai students but also for students from the nearby emirates to attend the college.

The original college building soon proved to be too small to accommodate the needs of the growing number of students and in 1991 the foundations program moved to an annex of its own. By 1995 there were three campuses- the main campus for career programs, the foundations campus and the BM campus for first year business students.

In Aug 1995, the college moved to the Al Mamzar building where all three campuses were combined into one. As the college enrollment progressed at a rapid rate year by year, by 1995, the year in which the certificate diploma course was introduced, it was no longer possible to accommodate the whole student body in one building. Thus in 1996 the foundations program moved to an annex of its own, followed by the communications technology in 1997. A learning centre was then added to the college facilities. In 1998 the college moved its premises to the former Dubai Women’s College building near the Abu Hail Centre and finally in 2004, DMC moved to a new purpose-built campus at its current location, and was the first college to open its gates in Academic City.

Organization

As one of the Higher Colleges, DMC is governed by the central administration of HCT headed by the Vice Chancellor, Dr Tayeb Kamali. The College Senior Director, Dr. Leo Chavez, is responsible for the educational leadership and management of the college and reports to the Vice Chancellor. The college management committee consisting of the senior director, associate director, academic chairs and staff representatives forms the college administrative team. DMC today has four academic divisions with 6 departments.

• Business, IT and Applied Communications
• Foundations and English
• Engineering, Civil Construction, Electronics
• Learning Innovation : Educational Technology, In-Service Teacher Education, Academic Quality Assurance, Pastoral Development.

The college support departments include, Career Development and Industrial Alliances, Corporate Training and Graduate Studies, Entrepreneurship and Applied Research, Community and Public Relations, Academic and Student Services, Information Technology Services, Human Resources and Finance and Administration.

Program relevance is maintained with the participation of the Employer Advisory Committees for each program in the college. They meet regularly to ensure that the needs of industry are incorporated into the various programs. The college has established links with tertiary educational institutions and validating bodies in other countries in order to maintain international program standards and to facilitate the transfer of DMC graduates to programs of advanced study abroad.

Sports

DMC has excellent sports facilities that help the students to maintain and improve their health and fitness. Intramural and intercollegiate competitions within departments of the college and among the colleges of HCT and other colleges and universities are a regular occurrence. DMC students participate in College Olympic events, HCT Sports Day, the Higher Education Sports Federation (HESF) intercollegiate competitions, HCT rowing competitions and HCT cross country running. DMC students are highly successful in national championships in track and field, taekwondo, swimming, football, basketball, volleyball and table tennis. During the 2007-08 academic year, DMC won the HESF championship securing for themselves seven gold medals, the HCT overall championship, the HCT soccer league, and the HCT volleyball league.

The DMC sports and fitness center opened in 2004, making a significant difference to the capacity and quality of DMC’s sporting activities. The 100,000 square-meter facility features an Olympic-size swimming pool, an outdoor multipurpose stadium, a FIFA approved soccer pitch, two 5-a side soccer pitches, a volleyball court, four tennis courts, a running track and field, two basketball courts, three squash courts, a cricket pitch, two beach soccer pitches, two beach volleyball pitches, an adventure quest site, two fully equipped gyms and a games room for playing snooker, billiards and table tennis.

The DMC Learning Centre

The DMC Learning Centre houses more than 35,000 books and 200 journals, magazines and newspapers. Textbooks and reference books support the college courses but books of fiction, popular videos, DVDs and graded readers are available on loan. A wide range of online databases that contain thousands of articles from magazines, newspapers, journals and reference books are also accessible to both students and staff. The Learning Centre is divided into 8 ‘zones’. These zones provide students and staff with a wide range of subject-specific resources within the various program areas. In addition to each program zone there is a leisure zone, reference zone, English zone and mathematics zone. The leisure zone is an area where students can relax, play board games, read newspapers and general interest magazines, access general fiction or readers, Arabic books, DVDs and videos. The reference zone has a large selection of encyclopedias, atlases and dictionaries on various topics. The English and mathematics zones offer extensive, up-to-date resources and professional help for the English language and math needs of DMC students.

Student services and activities

The Student Services department carries out a variety of tasks from helping new students in the transition from school to college life to finding suitable jobs for them on graduation. The student services department provides career counseling and career guidance to help students choose appropriate programs and subsequently suitable jobs. Work experience opportunities for students are offered through the career development centre. A wide range of extracurricular activities are offered throughout the academic year. Student activities are generally organized by the Dubai Men’s College Student Administration Council and sporting activities by the sports section. Some of the college events organized last year include the iftar party, the Ramadan sports festival, international day, World Challenge, National Day and the mathematics rally. Many student clubs such as the art club, photography club, environmental club, chess club, anime and gaming club, billiards and snooker club, bowling club, mathematics club, Japan club, martial arts club, toastmasters’ club, squash club and formula one racing club are also organized during out-of-college hours.

Scholarship program

DMC has a scholarship program to assist students with financial difficulties. The program has been developed with the cooperation of other organizations in the community and supported by His Excellency Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister of Education and Research and Chancellor of the HCT. The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation has been a continuous provider of assistance to students at Dubai Men’s College. A Board of Trustees awards scholarships on the basis of merit and need.

Some notable alumni

DMC has produced many highly successful alumni. Among the best-known are:

• Chief Project Officer at Dubai Culture and Arts Authority Saeed Mohamed Ali Al Nabouda,
• Deputy CEO at Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Establishment Abdulbasit Mohamed Abdulla Al Janahi,
• Director of Jebel Ali Customs Mattar Al Mari,
• General Manager – Operations at MAF Investments LLC Fouad S Mansoor,
• Sharaf Group Director of Business Development at Sultan Group Investments LLC Jamal Qassim Sultan Albanna,
• Project Manager at the Prime Minister’s Office Azzan Lootah,
• Chief Executive Officer of Amlak Finance Arif Alharmi,
• Captain Boeing 777 and Pilot Cadet Recruitment Manager of Emirates Airlines Abdulla Al Hammadi,
• Minister Advisor at the Ministry of Justice, Abdulla Abduljabbar Mohamed Al Majed,
• Manager of DubaiSat-1 Programme Emirates Institution of Advanced Science and Technology Salim Al Marri,
• Executive Director of Dubai Internet City Malek Sultan Al Malek.

External links

• Dubai Men's College website
• Higher Colleges of Technology