We can bridge the Arabic and Western worlds
There are hundreds of thousands of IB graduates out there in the world and many are helping to shape it into a better place. This month, we talk to a man whose work is creating important cross-cultural links
‘I was born in Beirut and grew up in Dubai, where I attended the Choueifat International School and undertook the IB Diploma Programme, earning my diploma in 1987. The experience was hugely enjoyable, and I’ve always credited the IB for
preparing me well for college and my career.
The Diploma Programme is unique, because it combines rigour and breadth—a very
difficult and challenging balance to achieve! Learning a second language is tremendous, as is the compulsory humanities study, even if you’re scientifically inclined and vice versa. The IB also teaches you to think about and reflect on the world, and helps you to make a social impact through its community service.
Choueifat had a very good mix of people. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was a fledgling country at the time, and I had friends from all over the world. I’m still in touch with the school and many of its alumni, and I try to help in any way I possibly can.
After school, I enrolled as a freshman reading physics and electrical engineering as a double major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston. My graduate specialism was in elementary particle theory, but I’d always been interested in a career in education and that’s what I decided to pursue. Returning to the UAE, I joined the staff of the school I’d attended as a child, spending a couple of years working on curriculum development. It was very exciting and quite varied—from writing ICT lecture notes to teaching sixth form A-level physics.
I was then asked to head a new school in the UAE, which I did between 1996 and 2000, and following that I joined McKinsey, the world’s largest management consultancy firm, spending three years working on the government’s public education
policy. Eventually I decided to start up my own company, Beacon Education.
We’re a management firm, focusing on high-calibre international schools. Private schools are very prominent here because of the large ex-pat community, but many schools aren’t that good. We hope to make a real improvement. Because our costs are very high, we’re initially targeting the top bracket, but the motivation is not to generate profit but to provide a good service.
We’ve launched four schools so far, and one of them is offering the Primary Years Programme, which is wonderful. As I’ve got more involved, I’ve attended some of the conferences and training sessions for the IB school, and it’s reignited my passion for
IB programmes. We’ve also set up a British curriculum school and a US school for girls.
One thing we’re really excited about is creating a link to the Arab culture: we want to expose children to the language and country they’re living in. Many international schools create a cocoon away from the UAE—little Americas and Britains. We try to pay respect to the local culture.
The IB can definitely help with this and build a bridge between the Arabic and Western worlds. I was at a conference in Bangkok recently, and we discussed with the IB the prospect of helping to raise funds for translating documentation into Arabic. It’s great because the IB can reach a large number of schools, and we hope to effect some real change this way.
There are hundreds of thousands of IB graduates out there in the world and many are helping to shape it into a better place. This month, we talk to a man whose work is creating important cross-cultural links
Curriculum Vitae
Ziad Azzam
Partner and CEO, Beacon Education, Dubai
2000-2006 Consultant, McKinsey & Company, Dubai
1999 Head, International School of Choueifat, Dubai
1994-1996 Taught maths and physics, International School of Choueifat, Abu Dhabi, Ras Al-Khaima and Sharjah
1991-1993 Masters of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1987-1991 Bachelor of Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
