Masdar Institute welcomes its first students

This has been an exciting week at the Masdar Institure with the arrival of the first students - nearly one hundred with over thirty different nationalities and countries represented including a really good mix of male and female and a good number of local students (nearly all women hoorah!)
I first spotted the marketing campaign in the Marina Mall and got very excited. The marketing campaign is on lightboxes in all of the major Malls as well as on 48 sheet billboards and half page ads in the national press. It’s aimed at letting the people of Abu Dhabi know about the exciting new initiative which is the Masdar Institute. I really like the campaign, it's so personal and engaging, featuring real people in front of a blackboard. So different for a scientific and technical Institution and different from the other Masdar images which are computer generated at this stage. I had the chance at the Iftar for new students to talk to the Marketing Manager about it which was fascinating, bearing in mind my own background in education marketing.
The Iftar to welcome the new students was wonderful. There were 180 people there, with the students, Faculty members, professional and support staff and the MIT folk (plus one or two hangers on like me!) Both John and the CEO of Masdar were really delighted to see the reality of what they are trying to achieve and spent a lot of time talking to the students and staff. There was a warm, buzzy atmosphere and I enjoyed meeting so many of John's colleagues who were very warm and friendly towards me, especially John's PA who shared some wise words about life in Abu Dhabi as she has been here for 15 years.
I hope to include some photos of the evening if I can get some from Masdar. Unfortunately our camera is broken at present and I haven't been able to find anyone to mend it yet.