MBA - Public-Private Partnerships

Run in partnership with ESSEC Business School since 2007, Arabian Gulf University's MBA is an eighteen-month, full-time program for working professionals across the GCC, built around a specialised track in Public-Private Partnership Management. Students complete core business coursework before moving into the PPP track and a consultancy project that applies classroom learning to a real business problem, examining the legal, financial and operational dimensions of public-private partnership models alongside financial modelling, risk assessment and cost-benefit analysis for infrastructure and utility projects. A Paris-based residency hosted on ESSEC's La Défense campus lets students sit in on MBA sessions, tour companies and connect with ESSEC's wider academic community, and graduates receive a dual certificate from both institutions — ESSEC having placed 24th worldwide in the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking for 2026. The three-semester course of study also introduces artificial intelligence, blockchain, IoT and data analytics as tools for improving transparency and efficiency in public-sector and business settings across the region.