I agree with CR9 and many others here.
An upgrade course should have a 90% pass rate and if a candidate fails, it should be the INSTRUCTOR'S fault. Most TRI's and TRE's are in it for the money and not the love of teaching. Sadly enough, I'm afraid some do it for the power trip and the extra star on their jacket. The best teachers are regular captains but they avoid the training dept like the plague for obvious reasons.
A successful TRAINING program should boast about how they can TRAIN candidates to a 90% success rate...
Everyone here passed the real test..the interview. The FO's aren't stupid. As it stands now, your success for EK command is about 80% preparation and 20% luck on who your TRI/TRE is...that's not good or fair.
An upgrade candidate should be assigned one or two TRI's the entire training program, and only be examined by a TRE at the END of each stage of training, not every single "training" lesson.
Like I said, a normal airline should have a 90% success rate for upgrade and if a candidate fails, it should be the TRI's fault for not properly preparing his student. If the student needs more training, well, instead of failing them, give them more training without destroying his confidence. Of course, some don't have the decision making skills and are un-trainable for command, hence the other 10%. That is industry standard.
When I was an instructor, and if I had a student fail, it was my fault. If I didn't think a student was ready for his checkride, I didn't recommend him or transferred him off to another instructor that could do a better job than I.
Emirates training is a culture of fear. it is not a healthy learning environment. Its breeding a blurry line what is SOP and what isn't. And what is most frightening, it is breeding awful CRM.
DEC's from another airline might be a good thing. Bring some new blood, new, fresh ideas. Inbreeding isn't good. 600 hr TRI's teaching new FO's that become 600 hr TRI's, the inbreeding continues.
I think top mngt EK is starting to get the idea finally, especially when its costing them $$$$