News

For UAE parents whose teenagers have ever said the words "I think I want to be a doctor", the question that usually follows is harder than the ambition itself: how do you actually find out whether the reality of healthcare matches the idea? A newly signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) between GEMS Education and Aster DM Healthcare is designed to answer exactly that, by bringing structured, in-school career exposure into one of the region's largest education networks.

The MoU expands a wider relationship between the two organisations that already runs through 45 GEMS schools as a health and wellness partnership, reaching more than 140,000 students, 110,000 families and 25,000 employees. The new agreement adds a career exposure layer through the Aster Discover programme, an established high school internship and leadership engagement initiative launched in 2022.

What the new MoU adds

Under the partnership, GEMS students will have the opportunity to join Aster Discover, a structured high school internship and leadership engagement programme featuring immersive placements within the healthcare ecosystem. The aim is to give students early exposure to clinical and non-clinical professions for improved career clarity and real-world industry understanding.

The MoU establishes a scalable framework for ongoing collaboration. Aster Discover will accept two cohorts of 20 GEMS students each, with immersive placements running over a two-week period in July and August and again in December, coinciding with school holidays. Internships will be offered across healthcare operations, as well as selected enabling and support functions, giving students meaningful exposure to the wider healthcare ecosystem.

The programme is designed around two integrated components. The first is structured internship exposure across healthcare and support functions. The second is a leadership engagement series that offers students direct interaction with senior leaders through talks, interactive Q and A sessions and employer-branding touchpoints. Across five previous editions of the programme, nearly 50 students have already participated.

For parents, two important practical notes: internships will be designed in line with regulatory and patient safety guidelines, and while students will gain meaningful exposure to healthcare environments, direct clinical shadowing opportunities may be limited in certain areas due to compliance requirements. The exposure is real, but the boundaries are clear.

Why this matters for GEMS families

Healthcare is one of the most popular career destinations among GEMS graduates, which gives the partnership particular relevance for parents inside the network. According to the group, more than a quarter of GEMS alumni go on to pursue careers in medicine, dentistry, allied health, healthcare sciences and related fields. For families whose children are heading down those pathways, a structured internship inside an integrated healthcare provider is exactly the kind of pre-university experience that tends to be hard to organise privately.

Dino Varkey, Group Chief Executive Officer of GEMS Education, said healthcare continues to be one of the most sought-after career pathways among GEMS students, and that the partnership creates meaningful opportunities to experience the realities of the sector first-hand, from clinical environments and healthcare operations to leadership and innovation. He added that career readiness must go beyond the classroom, and that GEMS is working in line with the UAE Vision 2071 agenda to create more immersive, industry-led and hands-on learning experiences for students aged 15 to 18, helping them make informed decisions about their futures while developing the confidence, perspective and real-world understanding that today's rapidly evolving industries demand.

Alisha Moopen, Managing Director and Group CEO of Aster DM Healthcare, said healthcare as a sector needs more young talents and bright minds to help build a more sustainable future, and that Aster Discover is the group's initiative to introduce students to the inner workings of the healthcare ecosystem, inspiring curiosity and encouraging them to actively explore careers in the sector. The programme is designed as a structured platform that brings students closer to the world of healthcare through exposure to clinical and non-clinical functions, while also providing opportunities for leadership interaction and mentorship. In partnership with GEMS Education, she said, the aim is to help students gain greater clarity, confidence and curiosity about their future pathways, while contributing to the development of the next generation of healthcare talent.

Building on a wellness partnership already in motion

The new MoU does not exist in isolation. It builds on the broader Health and Wellness Partnership Aster and GEMS first established in 2025, which made Aster the official Health and Wellness Partner for 45 GEMS schools and brought a 12-month wellness programme into the network.

Under that wider programme, Aster works with GEMS to embed wellness into school life, with teachers at the centre as key influencers of student behaviour. The programme is aligned with GEMS' BEYOND100 movement and adopts a Catch Them Young approach, designed to help children develop healthy habits during their formative years. The agenda includes activities, workshops and awareness campaigns on nutrition, fitness, mental health, preventive healthcare and overall well-being.

A few specific elements stand out for parents. The Teacher's Thursday concept provides dedicated benefits for teachers, including exclusive discounts, fast-tracked appointments and dedicated events for their families, with benefits extending even to relatives abroad. The programme also addresses mental well-being directly, introduces AI-powered learning tools to make health education more engaging, and appoints Student Health and Wellness Ambassadors to champion wellness among peers. Parents themselves are looped in through expert talks and insights on the latest global developments in children's health.

In short, the wellness side of the partnership is the long-running base layer, and the new career-exposure MoU is a sharper, more focused programme that sits on top of it.

What this signals about UAE schooling

Two things stand out when you step back from the operational detail.

First, schools in the UAE are leaning more heavily on industry partnerships to deliver career readiness. The model is no longer just career fairs and university counsellors. It is structured, multi-week placements designed with regulatory guidance and senior-leadership engagement built in. Dubai parents thinking about secondary schools for their children should reasonably expect to see this kind of partnership become a more visible part of how schools differentiate themselves.

Second, healthcare as a sector is investing seriously in building its own future talent pipeline. With 15 hospitals, 124 clinics and 333 pharmacies across the GCC, plus a presence in Jordan, Aster has the network needed to scale a programme like this, and the partnership with one of the region's largest school groups gives that pipeline meaningful reach.

What parents should keep in mind

Even within a structured programme, the value of an internship is largely about what the student does with it. Three practical points apply here.

First, the age range matters. The career exposure piece is designed for students aged 15 to 18, the years when subject choices, university shortlists and personal statements all start crystallising. Parents whose children fall into this group will get the most from the programme.

Second, the experience is real but bounded. Compliance and patient safety considerations mean direct clinical shadowing may be limited in certain settings. That is a feature, not a flaw, and it reflects the same rules that apply to junior medical staff. The non-clinical exposure (operations, support functions, leadership engagement) is often where students learn what a career in healthcare actually looks like on a day-to-day basis.

Third, the wellness programme is the everyday touchpoint for most families. While only a small number of students will be selected for the formal Aster Discover cohorts, every student and family inside a participating GEMS school is already benefiting from the wider health and wellness programme. Engaging with those workshops, expert talks and parent insights is the easiest way for families to get value from the partnership on a continuous basis.

For UAE families weighing what a contemporary, future-ready schooling experience should include, the Aster and GEMS partnership offers a fairly clear answer: not just academics, but structured wellness, real industry exposure and meaningful connections to the careers that the country itself most needs.

Sources:

Zawya, "Aster DM Healthcare and GEMS Education partner to provide students real-world healthcare experience through Aster Discover" (Press Release, June 4, 2026). https://www.zawya.com/en/press-release/companies-news/aster-dm-healthcare-and-gems-education-partner-to-provide-students-real-world-healthcare-experience-through-aster-discover-iimdecj2 

Gulf News, "Nurturing young minds: Aster and GEMS champion wellness in Dubai schools" by A Ahmed (September 16, 2025). https://gulfnews.com/uae/education/nurturing-young-minds-aster-and-gems-champion-wellness-in-dubai-schools-1.500271169