Rosetta Stone sets up first Middle East office in Dubai

Rosetta Stone is the latest world-leading corporation to set up an office in Dubai.The language-learning specialist has grown enormously in its 20-year history and bosses at the firm clearly see the Gulf as an important market.They announced details of their latest expansion into Dubai Internet City during the recent Gulf Educational Supplies and Solutions exhibition."In addition to the Americas, Europe and Asia, our new Dubai office truly conveys our commitment to the Middle East's innovative education initiatives," commented Donavan Whyte, vice president of sales for Europe, Middle East & Africa at Rosetta Stone.The Gulf has emerged as an educational hub over the last few years and it makes sense for a company like Rosetta Stone to capitalise on this.According to a study conducted by the World Bank last month, public expenditure on education in the Middle East currently stands at 18.6 per cent of the government's budget, which is significantly higher than the global average of 14.2 per cent.Mr Whyte continued: "The World Bank report findings underscore the region's focus on cultivating its citizens to ultimately develop a workforce that will compete in the global economy with solid skills and language knowledge is integral to that vision."The UAE continues to attract some of the most successful and prestigious companies on the planet, with many choosing to establish themselves in the excellent Dubai Internet City.This complex was first formed in 2000 and it has since grown to become the largest IT business park in the Middle East and North Africa.Facebook, LinkedIn, IBM and HP were just some of the firms to open new offices in the area last year.Managing director of Dubai Internet City Malek Al Malek said the region is now "on the radar" of most organisations that have ambitions of growing in the Middle East.Although it is encouraging to see so many large multinational firms moving to the park, leaders of the facility insisted towards the end of 2012 that they would place more emphasis on nurturing local start-up organisations in the near future.