The branch of the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) in Dushanbe opened its doors to its first students on October 2.
At the first stage, MDIS Dushanbe reportedly offers training in three disciplines: industrial management; tourism; and technology and information security.
In the future, new specialties will be introduced as necessary, the Dushanbe Administration press center said.
Recall, a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on opening of a branch of the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) was signed in Dushanbe on July 1, 2020.
The document was inked by Dushanbe Mayor Rustam Emomali and MDIS President Eric Kuan.
President’s decree on the establishment of the MDIS Branch in Dushanbe was issued in November 2020.
MDIS Dushanbe is the third overseas campus the Management Development Institute of Singapore.
MDIS noted in May 2022 that it has grown beyond partnerships with overseas universities and has effectively gone global with campuses abroad. Capitalizing on the 'Singapore brand', MDIS has overseas campuses that include MDIS Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and MDIS Malaysia, Johor. These campuses were opened in 2008 and 2013 respectively.
Set up in 2007, MDIS Tashkent is MDIS' first overseas campus and is an institution of choice for students in Uzbekistan, Central Asia. From the initial batch in 2008, MDIS Tashkent now has more than 5,000 students from countries such as South Korea, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan studying at MDIS Tashkent, and numerous academic degree programs were offered in partnership with renowned UK universities such as the University of Bangor, University of Sunderland and Teesside University.
MDIS noted that with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)'s focus on the connectivity between Europe and Central Asia, allowing for easy transportation of goods and services in trade, tourism and agriculture, there will be immense opportunities and potential for graduates and the people of Central Asia to engage in foreign investments, economic and cultural activities in turbocharging their economy.
In September 2016, China reportedly inaugurated a railway line running through Uzbekistan to Afghanistan and Pakistan and intends to embark further on connecting Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan onwards to China. Tajikistan does have a small rail network, terminating in Dushanbe, with links to Uzbekistan and ultimately to Moscow. There has also been talk of a Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan (TAT) railway that would link west to Iran and the International North-South Transportation Corridor.
Tajikistan, with its population of 9.5 million, has reportedly been enjoying strong economic growth for nearly 30 years since its independence in 1991, mainly based on the export of aluminum and a significant cotton industry. But sustaining growth in the future will need substantially higher growth in private investment and export diversification.
Founded in 1956, the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS) is the oldest non-profit vocational university for lifelong learning in Singapore. It offers a variety of degree programs such as business management, engineering, fashion design, nursing, mass communications, psychology and hospitality management.
In a survey conducted by Committee for Private Education on employment outcomes, graduates of MDIS achieved good employment rate.
