The UAE food sector targets 20,000 new jobs
Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) Dubai and Gyma Food Industries ‘Bayara’ (Subsidiary of Savola Foods Company Saudi Arabia) have entered a new industry partnership to give students and graduates of the Manipal Institute of Health & Life Sciences (MIHLS) more direct routes into the UAE’s expanding food sector.
The agreement provides students with internship opportunities each academic year, access to available full-time roles, and opportunities to work on real business projects as part of their degree.
The partnership comes as the UAE Food Cluster targets 20,000 new jobs in food-related sectors by 2028, alongside plans to increase the sector’s contribution to GDP from AED 30bn to AED 40bn. Advanced agri- and food processing is among the strategic growth areas identified under the strategy.
Capabilities
“For our Health & Life Sciences students, this partnership creates a much clearer line of sight between what they study and where and how those capabilities can be applied in the food industry. Students preparing to enter the workforce should be building relationships with employers in growth sectors while they are still studying, not meeting them for the first time after graduation,” explained Dr. S. Sudhindra, Pro Vice Chancellor, MAHE Dubai.
Gyma Food Industries ‘Bayara’ will also work with MIHLS faculty to develop case studies and project work reflecting current industry practices and market challenges for students to work on as part of their academic courses.
“This deal gives our faculty another way to test whether the curriculum is keeping pace with what is happening in the food industry, while giving students problems to solve that have a genuine commercial context rather than relying only on case studies,” commented Dr. Arif Hussain, Dean, Manipal Institute of Health & Life Sciences, MAHE Dubai.
