THE 4th IAIC ‘AWARDING CEREMONY’ OF UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG IN DUBAI (UOWD) ENDORSED BY THE CHARTERED INSTITUTE OF MARKETING (UK).

Dubai UAE

Sallam Sallam

IAIC-(Industry academia Interface in the Classroom Initiative)- is a unique concept from UOWD, endorsed by the World’s most popular global body the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

The 4th IAIC ‘AWARDING CEREMONY’ held, at Hilton Dubai Jumeirah and sponsored by ORACLE CORPORATION, the Technology partner of the initiative, with attendees comprising of managers from more than 20 companies including the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UNILEVER, BATH & BODY WORKS and HUAWEI, in addition  to UOWD dignitaries and more than 100 students.

The IAIC Initiative started with a humble beginning with one brand, by students doing a repositioning campaign for Cadillac in the UAE in 2015, it quickly evolved into an initiative that has grown to epic proportions in 2019, having witnessed more than 200 Under graduate students work with 13 brands in the UAE. This Industry-Academia effort was recognized by the UK based global professional body in marketing, the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), given its professional nature and the winning students were given three months free membership by the body.

At CIM, an institution strongly believing on Industry interaction with universities to be an instrumental platform for enhancing its students’ learning and contribution, an initiative called the IAIC (Industry Academia interface in classroom) initiative was started by Dr.K.Prakash Vel, Associate Professor-Marketing, Faculty of Business in 2015. Through this initiative, efforts were taken to reach out to companies to lend their support to students who will be trained by the lecturers over a 11 weeks’ period during the semester to do their course assignments on live marketing  issues of the participating companies. Student teams working on the various issues will give their final presentations directly to the concerned managers, thereby bringing their fresh marketing insights, based on secondary and primary data analysis sourced by them and thus to be of mutual benefit to the Industry and students to show-case their skillset.

Raj Achan, CIM Senior Ambassador in UAE said, ‘As the region prepares to meet the demands of increasingly globalised economies and ambitious national plans, people professionals are tasked with leading complex transformation projects, leading digital adaptation and creating better work cultures. The CIM recognise individuals, teams and organisations for their outstanding achievements in marketing. Professional bodies can provide opportunities for career development and further training. A number of University of Wollongong in Dubai’s (UOWD)  Marketing courses are accredited  by the Chartered Institute of Marketing and we aim to establish more high quality partnerships with corporates and universities in UAE and regionally.’