The Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge, ADEK, has announced that the UAE capital will open the first GCC campus of the internationally renowned 42 Network of coding and computer programming schools early next year.

A major enabler in Abu Dhabi’s strategic vision to create a diverse and inclusive education infrastructure that empowers and enables a future-ready workforce, 42 Abu Dhabi will welcome students in February 2021.

The new campus is an initiative of Ghadan 21, Abu Dhabi’s three-year government accelerators programme that aims to fast-track the emirate’s economic transformation through investments in the economy, knowledge, and community to support business, innovation, and people.

An innovative and disruptive coding school built on the philosophy that everyone deserves the opportunity to explore their talent, the purpose-built 42 Abu Dhabi campus will offer a revolutionary approach to divergent and gamified learning in the heart of the UAE capital’s historic Mina Zayed warehouses district.

The school will follow the tuition-free model of coding and programming education pioneered by French billionaire Xavier Niel, who founded the Network’s inaugural campus in Paris, École 42, in 2013. In only seven years, the expanding 42 Network of schools has grown to over 20 globally. 42 Abu Dhabi, the first of its kind in the GCC, will accommodate up to 750 students once fully operational.

"Establishing 42 Abu Dhabi underlines our commitment to provide next-generation education pathways to strategically upskill and nurture a future-ready workforce on a local and regional level," said Sara Musallam, Chairman of ADEK. "By making coding and code-thinking accessible to people of all levels and abilities, 42 Abu Dhabi embodies the emirate’s vision for a tech-enabled business ecosystem and contributes to our leaders’ vision to build a secure and confident society that is competitive, sustainable and open."

The latest bilateral milestone in the UAE-France Strategic Dialogue, which has played a principal role in institutionalizing the two nations’ bilateral cooperation across mutual areas of interest, 42 Abu Dhabi follows both countries recently reaffirming their long-term commitment to enhance innovative exchange in sectors including culture, education, advanced sciences, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, medtech and agritech.

"Our strategic partnership with France has always emphasised education, expertise exchange, and technology and innovation, with particular focus on those specialties that contribute to the UAE’s long-term growth and economic diversification. 42 Abu Dhabi is an outcome of that shared ambition," said Khaldoon Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority, and Co-Chair of the UAE-France Strategic Dialogue.

Underlining the ongoing bilateral ties shared by France and the UAE, Ludovic Pouille, the French Ambassador to the UAE, stated, "It is no secret that the UAE and France have an extraordinary history of collaboration and shared ambitions in areas such as culture, technology advancement and multi-sector industry development. In strengthening the strategic bond between our countries, 42 Abu Dhabi will deliver an innovative education benchmark to further enhance our nations’ productive bilateral relations for years to come."

Operating a project-based, problem-based and peer-to-peer learning methodology endorsed by global tech luminaries including Evan Spiegel, Co-Founder and CEO of Snapchat; Jack Dorsey, Co-Founder and CEO of Twitter; Keyvon Beykpour, Co-Founder and CEO of Periscope; and Brian Chesky, Co-Founder and CEO of Airbnb; amongst others, 42 Abu Dhabi students will learn at their own pace and develop through collaboration and creativity.

Sophie Viger, CEO, 42 Network, said that the 42 Network aims to contribute to the development of an open and ethical world, without discrimination and without boundaries in terms of generation, culture or geography. "In Abu Dhabi, we have found the perfect partner to expand our mission and values to a new world of coders across the Arabian Gulf."

"No previous coding experience is required of 42 Abu Dhabi students, however students must be curious, committed, proactive, and creative, and must possess an innate ability to adapt and collaborate. This school will upskill our local and regional talent pool and provide a huge boost to partners in every professional sector who need tech talent to meet the demands of digitisation today and in the future," Majid Al Shamsi, Director of Higher Education Business Development at ADEK, said.

Candidates interested in applying to 42 Abu Dhabi, must be 18 years old and above, and can register now at www.42AbuDhabi.ae to conduct an online pre-selection assessment which evaluates cognitive capacity via logic and memory tests.

Successful pre-selection candidates are then invited to ‘The Piscine’, an immersive month-long programme testing motivation, endurance, and commitment. Successful candidates will be invited to join the inaugural cohort of 42 Abu Dhabi after all ‘The Piscine’ assessments are completed.