Students will now be able to receive a new Duke degree in Dubai.
Faculty approved a new degree program to be offered in the United Arab Emirates at Thursday’s Academic Council meeting. The Fuqua School of Business will offer a two-year Master’s of Management Studies in Finance degree, which will be similar to the MMS-Foundations of Business program currently provided in Durham. Jennifer Francis, senior associate dean for programs and Douglas and Josie Breeden professor at Fuqua, did not specify when the program will begin, as the program must still be approved by the Board of Trustees.
“We are excited by the high interest by faculty in this new endeavor,” Francis said.
The program will be unique because it will attract students with more work experience, Francis said. She noted that Fuqua faculty members are confident in the use of this model because it is based on similar systems implemented in other programs.
Francis emphasized that Fuqua administrators chose to expand to the UAE because it is relatively westernized compared to other countries in the Middle East.
Faculty members noted that cultural immersion will benefit the students but expressed concern that the social differences between the United States and the UAE would affect the program adversely—specifically in terms of gender inequality.
“Administrators have been proactive in implementing a strategy to break down the gender barrier in the classroom,” Francis said, adding that Fuqua plans to hire both male and female faculty and teaching assistants.
The program will be conducted by Fuqua faculty, and Fuqua will not hire new full-time members, Francis said. She added that Fuqua plans to hire adjunct and non-tenure track professors to teach part time.
“Students can look forward to a true immersion experience where they will be closely advised and monitored by [teaching assistants],” Francis said.
Kerry Haynie, associate professor of political science, said he was concerned that the lack of regular-rank faculty might prevent the program from issuing a degree that meets Duke’s standards.
“There should be assurance that [Fuqua] will offer Duke-quality programs [in Dubai],” Haynie said.
In other business:
Provost Peter Lange addressed lessons learned from the development of Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School and how they could apply to Duke’s expansion into China—primarily Duke Kunshan University.
“These things take time—it is after five years that we are able to report back on the status of Duke-NUS,” Lange said.
Lange said Duke’s presence in China will attract “top-flight” faculty and students from the area. He stressed that there is now more research literature coming from eastern Asia as opposed to the United States.
Additionally, the recently created global priorities committee and the China Faculty Council presented their goals for the year.
The global priorities committee will have two functions—to assess University and academic proposals during the creation and implementation of the global programs, and to review and elaborate Duke’s global strategy, said Jeff Vincent, global priorities committee chair and Clarence F. Korstian professor at the Nicholas School of the Environment.
In addition to working with the global priorities committee, the central charge for the China Faculty Council is to create initiatives, noted the council’s chair Paul Haagen, professor of law and senior associate dean for academic affairs at the School of Law.
“The focus of the committee will be to generate ideas to feed ideas to the provost’s office and to the [global priorities committee] and help shape various opportunities,” Haagen said.
Correction: The program must still be approved by the Board of Trustees, which was not clarified in an earlier version of this article. In addition, Fuqua does not currently have faculty members already in Dubai. The Chronicle regrets the error.
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