Michigan State University is to give up to 10 outstanding students a scholarship to celebrate the opening of its Dubai campus in August.
And helping to select the students will be made by someone who left Dubai 10 years ago and came back with two degrees from MSU in the United States.
Alister J. Aranha, 27, will be the Alumni and Local Community member of the selection committee. He will sit beside two Professors from MSU Dubai, and the Executive Director, Dr Brendan Mullan.
Alister describes his time at MSU as 'the best years in his adult life'. He said: 'It is very exciting for me that MSU is opening a campus here in Dubai. You cannot imagine what a great honour it is for me to be on this selection committee.
'This scholarship is an amazing opportunity for the aspiring young people in Dubai to experience the sort of education that I was lucky enough to benefit from. It will set the standard of academic performance for prestigious American universities catering to the Middle East.'
In the first year 2008-2009, the students will be in the first class which will graduate from MSU Dubai, in 2012, so the award will be known as the Inaugural Merit Scholarship.
Students who win the award must maintain a good academic standing at MSU Dubai during the 2008-2009 academic year. Dr Mullan said: 'We are especially proud to welcome the Class of 2012, the inaugural class of Michigan State University Dubai.
'Members of the class of 2012 are destined forever to hold a unique inaugural student status and we wanted to honour and recognise that. Who better to help us choosing the scholars than a young man, a graduate of MSU, who knows Dubai and MSU very well, and so obviously loves the university.'
Alister said:
'It was not just the academic opportunities that were so good. I became a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do in the United States and joined my university team, even though I had thought I was useless at athletics. It was the all-round experience that I appreciated, academically, in sports, and socially. All three elements are important in creating global citizens.'
Alister is now Marketing Manager and General Business Consultant at his father's Dubai-based construction company, Reliant Group, which has worked on projects including Emirates Towers and Burj Dubai. He said: 'MSU is hugely competitive, and it definitely brought out what was best in me.
'My work here in Dubai has been to empower and support the people in our company. Michigan State provided me with a global business education, one which I could confidently bring back to the United Arab Emirates with the aim of adding professional value to the country's development.'
The MSU faculty and administrators have consulted with Dubai's corporate and government leaders to make sure that their courses match the needs of Dubai's diverse workforce.
Consequently, the degrees on offer at MSU Dubai, which is based in Academic City, will initially include child and youth development, computer engineering, construction project management, early childhood education, and media management and research.
MSU has been based in East Lansing, Michigan, USA, for 150 years. It is ranked with Harvard, Yale, MIT and UMASS as a Carnegie Foundation Research I University, offering a full range of academic programmes from undergraduate to doctorate degrees.
Eligibility for an Inaugural Merit Scholarship
The Inaugural Merit Scholars will be selected on the following criteria:
• SAT, ACT, TOEFL, scores
• Overall High-School grade point average or high school equivalencies
• High-school class rank
• Demonstrated exemplary academic performance in a challenging academic programme
• Full-time enrolment status at MSU Dubai for the first and second semester of the 08/09 academic year
• Outstanding out-of-classroom involvement, good character, and demonstrated community service and engagement
An MSU Dubai Inaugural Scholar Selection Committee will review all applications and scholars will be presented with their awards at the MSU Dubai Academic Welcome ceremony on August 26, 2008.