Embry-Riddle Expands Global Reach to Barcelona, Spain

Daytona Beach, Fla., February 9, 2007 – Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Worldwide is expanding their global enterprise to include a new partnership with the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona (UAB), a major university with over 50,000 students in Barcelona, Spain. Faculty from both universities will jointly develop and deliver a master’s degree in aeronautical management designed to address the expanding aviation and aerospace industry in Spain and the rest of the European Union.

The joint curriculum will be patterned after the existing master of aeronautical science degree at Embry-Riddle. Current plans call for the curriculum to be submitted to the Catalan government by September 2007 for approval. The degree is scheduled to begin in September 2008. Each university will teach half of the prescribed curriculum with a single diploma carrying both university seals being awarded to graduates of the program.

Home to a comprehensive aviation marketplace with four airports, the city of Barcelona in the autonomous community of Catalonia is a major international cultural center and one of the most economically robust regions of Spain. “We are privileged to work in partnership with the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona,” said Marty Smith, chancellor of Embry-Riddle’s Worldwide campus. “This program will be a key component in addressing the educational and aviation needs of Catalonia and Spain as their aviation industry continues to expand at such a rapid pace, while concurrently transitioning from the Joint Aviation Authority to the European Aviation Safety Agency.”

“The commitment of UAB in fostering a new degree in Aeronautical Management is founded on strong interaction between the aeronautical sector and our international partnership. In such a vision, the agreements with Embry-Riddle will strategically position UAB as a catalyst establishing high quality, internationally recognized educational programs in a short timeframe”, said Lluis Ferrer, rector of UAB, in the meeting with the Embry-Riddle delegation.

“After the new degree launches in September 2008, the universities intend to continue their momentum by developing an Institute of Aviation Management to act as a “think tank” to advise and direct the growing aviation and aerospace industry in Spain and Southern Europe,” according to Dr. John R. Watret, vice-chancellor for academic affairs for Embry-Riddle Worldwide.

“We are very pleased to extend our partnership with UAB for the specific development of this joint degree and the institute. This will establish Embry-Riddle’s presence in Spain and Southern Europe and extend opportunities to the rest of the European Union,” said Dr. Karen Shehi, assistant chancellor of global strategy and international relations for Embry-Riddle Worldwide, who accompanied Smith and Watret on the trip to finalize the agreement. “As the leading edge of Embry-Riddle’s commitment to invest in global development and expansion, the Worldwide campus is also working on opportunities in China, Brazil, Germany, Canada, the Middle East and in other Asian countries,” noted Shehi.

As a major public university, the UAB is committed to implementing new forms of teaching, training and research dedicated to serving the society in which it is embedded. It is to that end, the UAB chose to offer a new degree in Aeronautical Management, to educate decision-making professionals in the air transport field in making high level, strategic management decisions like in aircraft maintenance and routing policies to low level operational decisions like handling and balancing the goods in an aircraft.

The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona is a dynamic and modern public institution, with an active policy of internationalization, dedicated to research, teaching, and service to the community. The most important part of the UAB is its university community: 2,900 teachers, 1,300 administrative and service staff, 40,360 first and second cycle students and 11,290 doctoral and post-graduate students. The university's unique and progressive style allows the active participation of all groups in its governing bodies, associations, teaching, research and cultural activities.

Embry-Riddle Worldwide began in 1970 as a branch of the Daytona Beach Campus at Ft. Rucker, Alabama with 20 students, primarily military working adults. Since then, the program has become one of the largest off-campus, regionally-accredited colleges in the United States, with over 45,000 alumni. The Worldwide organization educates more than 27,000 students through classroom, online or hybrid undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the world’s largest, fully accredited university specializing in aviation and aerospace, offers more than 30 degree programs in its colleges of Arts and Sciences, Aviation, Business, and Engineering. The university educates more than 32,000 students annually in undergraduate and graduate programs at residential campuses in Prescott, Ariz., Daytona Beach, Fla., and Worldwide at more than 130 centers in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Middle East, and through online learning.

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