Cambridge International Examinations is to take advantage of the growing demand within the Arab world for courses in IT and business management.
Starting in October, Egypt's Talal Abu-Ghazaleh & Co International will launch a localized version of the Cambridge Skills Award in Information Technology for students in the Middle East's most populous nation.
It will be run in collaboration with both the CIE, an adjunct to the University of the same name, and the Cairo-based Arab Knowledge Management Society, a non-profit organization devoted to providing advanced educational opportunities for students.
The courses will be offered in Arabic by way of a website administered by the three sponsoring organizations.
It is not clear at this point how much students may expect to pay for the course or precisely what its contents will be.
In a statement issued last week, Paul Lewis, CIE director for the Middle East, north Africa and India, said: "By working closely with TAGI and AKMS in the launch of this qualification, we have developed an assessment which will significantly increase the profile of all of our work within the region, as well as providing students with a real opportunity to gain the skills necessary to contribute effectively to the wider development of the Arab society."
Cambridge is one of a growing number of Anglo-American institutions taking advantage of the apparent need in the Middle East for westernized instruction.
Earlier in the year, Oakland University in Michigan became the world's first institution of higher learning to offer an online MBA program specifically designed for Arab students living in the Middle East.
John C Gardner, dean of the university's School of Business Education, has said he expects his university's program will eventually attract applicants from beyond Lebanon, where the program is based, to include students in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and within the territories administered by the Palestinian Authority.
The American program combines distance courses with Beirut-based seminars. Students will travel to Michigan for the last portion of their studies, in which they
will meet their instructors and local business leaders.
In a recent article in Beirut's Daily Star newspaper, Suhail Najjar, head of a Lebanese human resources company called Brainpower, said the Middle East is in dire need of tech-savvy business managers.
Mr. Najjar told the newspaper that executives could expect to double or triple their salaries after earning the right internationally-recognized qualification.