The three-year collaboration will provide students with access to open-source business software, industry-led projects and career opportunities through Odoo’s regional partner network.

The Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) Dubai Campus has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Odoo Middle East DMCC to strengthen practical, industry-focused learning for engineering and IT students.

The partnership formalises Odoo’s Education Program at MAHE Dubai and aims to bridge the gap between classroom learning and the technology industry through hands-on training, real-world projects and career pathways.

As part of the three-year agreement, students and faculty at MAHE Dubai’s School of Engineering & IT will receive complimentary access to Odoo’s open-source business software, installation support and teaching resources. The collaboration will also include industry workshops, source code hackathons and capstone projects based on real business challenges.

Odoo is a provider of open-source business applications, offering more than 40 integrated tools covering customer relationship management (CRM), e-commerce, accounting, inventory management, project management and point of sale systems. Its platform is used by more than 13 million users worldwide.

A key feature of the partnership is the Class to Career Program, which will connect students who demonstrate strong technical or functional expertise on the Odoo platform with Odoo’s regional partner network for employment opportunities.

Dr. Balamurugan Balusamy, Dean of the School of Engineering & IT at MAHE Dubai, said the collaboration would give students practical skills that are increasingly valued by employers.

“Open-source platforms like Odoo allow students to move beyond the theory of enterprise resource planning and actually build, customise and troubleshoot business applications the way developers do in industry. By embedding Odoo’s source code and capstone projects into our engineering and IT programmes, we are giving students a practical, employable skill set in ERP and business application development.”

He added that the Class to Career Program provides a direct pathway from university learning to employment within Odoo’s regional partner ecosystem.

Shreya Ilango, Technical Education Consultant for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at Odoo, said the partnership reflects the company’s commitment to preparing students for careers in software development before they graduate.

“By connecting classrooms to industry, we aim to upskill the next generation of software developers and computer science graduates before they even embark on their careers. Through workshops, capstone projects and access to our source code, students gain practical experience with the same tools used by our partners and customers around the world.”

The collaboration will enable students to work directly with enterprise software source code, giving them a deeper understanding of software development and business process automation than is typically possible with proprietary platforms.

The partnership also aligns with the UAE’s wider efforts to strengthen collaboration between higher education institutions and industry while preparing graduates with the digital and technical skills needed for the future workforce.

By combining academic learning with real-world industry exposure, MAHE Dubai and Odoo hope to improve graduate employability and equip students with practical experience in enterprise software development before they enter the job market.