Students learning about camp fires
Building a tent
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, September 12, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — A new collaboration merges hands-on learning, clear advancement milestones, and certified achievement to provide young people with lifelong practical abilities. Participants gain both national and international certifications as they progress along a defined Bronze-to-Platinum route.
Dubai, UAE – EDGE Ventures, an experiential learning platform focused on shaping future-ready individuals through authentic, organized experiences, has unveiled a strategic alliance with Bear Grylls Survival Academy. The partnership introduces the renowned Survival Academy program into UAE schools as an accredited, curriculum-integrated pathway.
This collaboration merges EDGE Ventures' goal of transformative hands-on learning with the worldwide expertise of Bear Grylls Survival Academy, generating opportunities for young people to build practical abilities through immersive outdoor activities.
Designed around deliberate challenges and real-world application, the program encourages participants to step away from conventional classroom settings, push themselves in unfamiliar scenarios, and cultivate the mindset and skills required to handle an increasingly intricate and fast-evolving world. The debut of the Survival Academy represents the first offering within the EDGE Ventures lineup. By blending internationally recognized outdoor education know-how with a systematic development framework, participants engage in outdoor survival methods, problem-solving tasks, and team-based exercises aimed at improving decision-making, communication, collaboration, flexibility, and self-confidence.
Crucially, the Survival Academy provides a structured advancement pathway rather than a one-time outdoor activity. Participants can advance through Bear Grylls Survival Academy Awards, ranging from Bronze to Platinum, led by instructors certified by Bear Grylls. The pathway holds external accreditation. Over the entire Bronze-to-Platinum journey, participants can obtain national and international certifications awarded by independent organizations.
Alongside these external credentials, participants also receive EDGE Microcredentials—digital badges that acknowledge tangible, applicable life skills as they are acquired. Every credential is documented and stored within the EDGE Passport, establishing a secure digital record of each participant's awards, certifications, and accomplishments that expands with them over time.
The EDGE Passport gives participants a lasting collection of evidence they can reference in the future, including as they advance through school and toward university and job applications.
The journey can extend beyond the core program, offering access to additional camps, expeditions, experiences, and future EDGE initiatives, providing participants with further chances to strengthen their abilities and enhance their achievement record.
The Survival Academy operates across all educational stages, with content tailored by age: confidence, teamwork, and outdoor awareness during primary years; leadership, problem-solving, and personal accountability in middle years; and expedition leadership, mentoring, and university- and career-ready qualities at sixth form. EDGE trains school staff to co-deliver, making the program part of a school's own offerings rather than a visiting provider's.
John Heaver, Managing Director of EDGE Ventures, said:
"At EDGE Ventures, we believe that some of life's most valuable lessons are learned through experience. While academic achievement remains important, young people also need opportunities to develop resilience, confidence, leadership and adaptability.
Our partnership with Bear Grylls Survival Academy enables us to create meaningful experiences that challenge individuals, broaden perspectives and help prepare them for the realities of life beyond the classroom. Through adventure, teamwork and purposeful challenge, participants learn to navigate uncertainty, overcome obstacles and discover what they are truly capable of achieving.
The UAE is where we are starting, not where this ends. The appetite for character education that is actually accredited is the same in every market we look at, and we intend to take this model well beyond the Emirates.”
CJ Cardenas, CEO of the Bear Grylls Survival Academy, said:
"In an ever more challenging world, it is our responsibility to equip young people with the tools they need not just to survive, but to thrive. The Bear Grylls Survival Academy has built its reputation around a simple idea: resilience isn't something you're born with, it's something you build, often just beyond the edge of your comfort zone.
We're proud to be bringing our ethos, methodology and standards to young people across the UAE through our partnership with EDGE Ventures. Together, we have created a curriculum that builds resilience, confidence, teamwork and leadership, all with the outdoors as our classroom. We are confident that these skills will remain in each student's toolkit long after they leave the programme, proving invaluable as they tackle life's challenges with tenacity, empathy, grit and, above all, a never-give-up attitude.”
The program has been created to complement current educational systems, fostering the growth of skills and behaviors that go beyond the classroom. Through quantifiable learning outcomes, structured advancement, and documented achievements, participants can demonstrate their progress over time while acquiring hands-on experience that supports them throughout their education and beyond.
In addition to outdoor abilities, participants will gain experience in teamwork, communication, problem-solving, decision-making, environmental awareness, and personal accountability—attributes that are vital for preparing young people to manage future opportunities and challenges.
About EDGE Ventures
EDGE Ventures develops future-ready young people through structured, real-world experience. EDGE builds accredited programmes with recognised names in adventure, leadership and life skills, and delivers them inside schools — with assessment, progression and qualifications attached. Every award a student earns is captured in the EDGE Passport. EDGE works with schools of every type and group.
For more information, visit www.edgeventures.ae
Email: marketing@edgeventures.ae
About Bear Grylls Survival Academy
The Bear Grylls Survival Academy (BGSA) has been built on a simple belief: with the right challenge, the right support and the right guidance, people discover they're capable of far more than they ever imagined. The portfolio of courses, challenges and events are inclusive to audiences of all ages and physical abilities and designed to motivate and inspire participants to challenge their own comfort zones and to NEVER GIVE UP! BGSA are proud to have grown their global reach, which spans the dynamic landscapes of the UK, China, UAE, Greece, India, Switzerland, Bahrain and Australia.
For more information, visit www.beargryllssurvivalacademy.com
Email: enquiries@beargryllssurvivalacademy.com
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