Dubai Parks and Resorts – the developer behind the AED10bn (US$2.7bn, €2.4bn, £1.8bn) theme park mega resort under construction in the UAE – is planning to send a group of Emirati graduates to Orlando, Florida, to learn more about the theme park industry.

The developer will recruit more than 1,000 locals over the course of the next year, with the educational initiative – known as the Helmi Programme – offering 10 graduates aged 25 and under a six-month course in Theme Park Management at the University of Orlando.

In addition to obtaining a globally-recognised degree, students will gain a hands-on appreciation of the industry, taking work placements at several major theme parks in the Orlando area including Legoland Florida, the sister site of the under-development Legoland Dubai as part of the Dubai Parks and Resorts project. 40 more Emirati students will take the same course when a visiting faculty travels to Dubai.

Dubai Parks and resorts pledged to hire more than 1,000 Emirati employees as part of wider efforts across the country to give top jobs to the UAE’s homegrown talent. The course will teach the trainees to manage a theme park, ahead of the 2016 opening of Motiongate Dubai, Bollywood Parks Dubai and Legoland Dubai.

A recent report from PwC suggested that the UAE is set to become a serious theme park competitor in the coming years, with revenues forecast to shoot up 78 per cent by 2019, and for the region to be competing with the Orlando market by 2021.