MBRSG launches world’s first master’s in AI governance for government
MBRSG programme bridges innovation management, AI policy and public administration
#UAE #education — Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG) has announced the world’s first master’s degree programme focused on AI governance and innovation management for government leaders. The Master in Innovation Management & AI Governance (MIMAIG) will equip public sector professionals with the skills to lead AI-driven transformation across government. In doing so, the new programme directly supports the UAE National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence 2031 and the national mandate to transition 50 percent of government sectors, services, and operations to agentic AI. Registration is now open, with the programme available in both 18-month full-time and two-year part-time formats.
SO WHAT? — Governments everywhere are grappling with the same problem: the pace of AI deployment in the public sector is outrunning the supply of leaders who understand how to govern it. Most public administration programmes treat AI as a module within a broader curriculum. MBRSG’s new masters’ programme inverts tha, placing AI governance and innovation management at the centre, with public administration built around it. Launched at the precise moment the UAE Cabinet is rolling out the world’s most ambitious agentic government transformation programme, the timing is deliberate and the need pressing.
KEY POINTS:
Mohammed Bin Rashid School of Government (MBRSG) has the world’s first master’s degree programme focused on AI governance and innovation management for government leaders. The Master in Innovation Management & AI Governance (MIMAIG) is explicitly designed to address the growing gap between the pace of AI deployment in the public sector and the availability of leaders equipped to govern it responsibly.
The programme directly supports the UAE National Strategy for AI and the Cabinet’s mandate to transition 50% of government sectors, services, and operations to agentic AI within two years.
The curriculum blends innovation management, AI governance, public policy, and strategic leadership, blending theoretical foundations in frontier technology governance with experiential learning, personal skills development, and project-based work with strategic partners.
MIMAIG carries 180 credits, split between 120 credits of taught modules and a 60-credit dissertation. It is designed to accommodate working professionals through a blended delivery model combining face-to-face and online weekend learning, available as an 18-month full-time or two-year part-time programme.
Global exposure is built into the learning journey with voluntary international field visits to leading technology hubs, embassies, and international organisations. In doing so, MBRSG aims to ensure that graduates are grounded in regional priorities while gaining direct experience of global best practices in anticipatory governance.
MBRSG academic leadership emphasises that technology adoption alone is insufficient. The school considers reskilling and upskilling as an urgent global mandate rather than an optional investment, arguing that governments must anticipate the evolution of AI capabilities and develop leadership skills before they are needed.
The programme’s launch event featured a panel of MBRSG alumni driving innovation across vital public sectors, illustrating the practical career contexts the programme is designed to serve.
MBRSG is dedicated specifically to foster government leadership and aims to bring an institutional focus to AI governance that generalist business schools and technology universities are structurally less equipped to provide.
ZOOM OUT — The UAE government's demand for AI-capable leaders has never been more urgent. In April 2026, the UAE Cabinet announced a world-first framework to deploy agentic AI across 50 percent of government sectors, services, and operations within two years. Ministers, directors general, and government entity heads will be directly assessed on their speed and capability in adopting the technology. That level of accountability makes AI governance literacy a career-critical requirement for public sector leaders, not an optional professional development choice. In the UAE, the gap between the pace of AI deployment and the supply of leaders equipped to govern it is an active operational challenge.
[Written and edited with the assistance of AI]
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Learn more about the MIMAIG (MBRSC)