Cass Business School announces new MBA course director

Professor Roy Batchelor has been appointed as the new Course Director for Cass Business School's Dubai Executive MBA programme with immediate effect. Professor Batchelor is a Professor of Banking and Finance at Cass and also a Visiting Professor of Finance at the British University in Dubai.

He was previously the Director of the MBA programme at Cass for five years from 1997 to 2001 and brings significant experience to the Cass Dubai EMBA programme. His research and teaching focuses on economic and financial market forecasting, the interpretation and use of consumer and business survey data, rationality and behavioural finance, and risk management in financial markets.

Professor Batchelor has acted as economic adviser to stockbrokers Smith New Court, to the London International Financial Futures Exchange, to the World Gold Council, to Canadean (a leading international market research company), and other commercial organisations. He has given expert legal evidence in cases relating to the quality of financial forecasting and trading systems. He has conducted research for the European Commission and the UK Treasury, prepared submissions for Parliamentary Committees, and served on the Bank of England's Panel of Academic Advisors.

Offered in conjunction with the DIFC Centre of Excellence, Cass Business School's EMBA Dubai programme is the world's first EMBA course offering specialist streams in Islamic Finance and Energy, alongside a general management option. The programme is delivered at the DIFC Centre of Excellence's state-of-the-art facility in DIFC.

Faten Hani, CEO of the DIFC Centre of Excellence said: "We look forward to working with Professor Batchelor to support Cass Business School's efforts to develop its Dubai EMBA programme into an even more dynamic course. Global educational institutions such as Cass will play a major role in honing new business leaders who can generate the creative ideas and strategic approaches needed to steer our industries through the challenges we face today and sustain the growth we have experienced. I wish Professor Batchelor every success in growing Cass Business School's Dubai EMBA programme."

The Cass Dubai Executive MBA programme is a flexible, part-time programme for committed and ambitious managers in the Gulf, the Middle East and the surrounding regions who want to accelerate their career development whilst remaining in full-time employment. The programme offers direct access to the very latest business-tested thinking and combines academic and practical content.

The EMBA Dubai programme has a flexible modular structure, which enables students to fit their studies around their personal and professional needs. A number of different learning channels are used to deliver the programme. The first two intakes of the programme, since its launch in 2007, have attracted executives from across the region.

Professor Batchelor said: "This is a challenging year for businesses and governments everywhere. It has never been more important for business leaders to bring together the best of current thinking in management, economics and finance. The Cass EMBA in Dubai draws on the unrivalled depth of management research at Cass, and our long experience of working with professionals in the world's leading financial centres.

"We are strongly committed to the programme in Dubai. After the current global slowdown, the Gulf region will still need a secure financial centre, a diversified base of trade and services, and a generation of well trained and ambitious young people to carry this vision forward."

This new appointment is another example of the Cass commitment to Dubai and the surrounding region, which also includes the opening of a representative office and the forthcoming inaugural Dubai Symposium.