Metal Park and World Steel Association launch metals education ecosystem

The Middle East Education Ecosystem for Metals (MEEEM) underpins Metal Park’s vision to establish the region’s most comprehensive educational service, spanning areas such as foundational skills, advanced metallurgy, and engineering.

Vahid Fouladkar, CEO of Metal Park, said: "This alliance marks a defining step in how industrial growth is built and sustained in the region. Metal Park was conceived as more than physical infrastructure—it is an operating ecosystem where standards, talent, capability, and production are developed together.

“By partnering with the World Steel Association and Steel University, we are embedding global best practices directly into the industrial environment, ensuring that education translates into measurable performance, competitiveness, and long-term national value for the UAE.”

The partnership directly supports the objectives of Make it in the Emirates and Operation 300bn as it aims to strengthen metal and steel industrial capacity, develop future-ready talent, and enhance the long-term competitiveness of regional manufacturing.

Jorge Muract, Director of Steel University, added: “The alliance seeks to secure the industry talent pipeline through strong collaboration and alignment among academia, industry, its value chain, and government as a key enabler of this interaction, while also providing agile infrastructure to continuously upskill and reskill the workforce and sustain innovation in production systems. Together, we aim to develop high-quality learning and technology solutions that build a more efficient and dynamic workforce.

“At the same time, the alliance seeks to join efforts with similar initiatives in Europe, Saudi Arabia, India and Latin America to create a global education and training ecosystem that enables talent mobility and ensures equal access to education and training, fostering social innovation worldwide.”

Metal Park views this agreement as a foundation for future collaboration, as delivering globally recognised industrial talent will require continued engagement with government entities, regulators, industry partners and academic institutions.