Dundee’s Al-Maktoum Institute has welcomed a group of 30 female students from the United Arab Emirates to the city in the hope they head for home singing Scotland’s praises.
Their two-week Summer School study visit will include visits to the Scottish Parliament, Loch Ness, Glamis Castle, Angus and other places of interest as well as time for shopping. It brings the total number of students from the UAE to visit Dundee and Scotland to over 205 in recent years and Acting Principal of the Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Professor Malory Nye hopes they will be impressed by what they see.
“We’re showcasing Scotland by helping them to get to know it,” said Professor Nye. “They will learn something of the country’s history, its culture and its people and by the time they are set to go home, we hope we will have groomed a group of ‘ambassadors’ ready to convince people in the UAE to make Scotland a holiday destination. The Institute has been involved in successfully linking Dundee and Dubai so we hope the Summer School will play an important part in bringing the city and the whole of Scotland to the attention of potential UAE visitors.”
Fifteen of the students are from UAE University, five from the British University in Dubai and ten from the Higher Colleges of Technology across the Emirates. Today (30 June) they will be welcomed to Dundee by the Lord Provost John Letford at the City Chambers, and hear about the history of Dundee.
