Despite dramatic growth since the 1990s in the number of private institutions, which make up about 45% of all Arab universities and have a market size of US$1.2 billion in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates alone, these institutions continue to have little impact on the development of higher education systems in the Arab world.
Al-Zarqa Private University, one of the top private universities in the country, declined to renew the scholars' contracts at the end of the academic year. Many faculty members at the university, which is located in Az Zarqa, an industrial city northeast of Amman, operate under such contracts.
A new study has revealed that UAE Nationals aged between 18 and 30 are split down the middle when choosing to pursue higher education in either a private or a federal university.
All doors to higher education are now closed to expatriate students in Saudi Arabia. After the Arab Spring, Arab expat children cannot study in universities either in the Kingdom or abroad. For many expatriates, especially those from Arab countries, going back to study in their home countries is a risk. Expats also told Arab News that the private sector of higher education does not benefit them due to several reasons. The latest edition of the World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report confirmed that only 25 percent of expatriate students enrolled in private universities.
This is a landmark step for students, universities and the KHDA. It is a huge boost to students that their degrees are recognised by all public and private sector entities in Dubai, and a sign that the quality of private higher education on offer in Dubai is indeed world-class
George Mason University’s Board of Visitors has authorized the university to move forward in establishing a campus in Songdo, South Korea. This will be the Virginia university’s second attempt to establish an overseas branch: its first, in the United Arab Emirates, ended in failure. The university devoted three years to developing a degree-granting campus in the Ras-Al-Khaimah province only to withdraw in 2009 due to slow enrollment growth, funding difficulties, and disagreements with the U.A.E. government body that was financing the campus.
The UAE’s higher education sector has grown very rapidly since the country’s first institution of higher learning, UAE University, opened in Al Ain in 1976. Today, more than 100 universities and colleges operate here, including three federal institutions and 37 branches of overseas universities.
The improvement reflects a major shift in the educational sector over the past decade, including an expansion in the higher education section sector in terms of new private universities and colleges.
“Private universities in Dubai recorded a 12 per cent increase in student enrolment in the last year, part of an 11 per cent increase in higher education enrollment as a whole,” said Dr Abdulla Al Karam, director general of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), in a 2013 report on Dubai’s higher education sector.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has cautioned students and parents against 'exploitation' by some private institutions and education centers that allegedly offer training for the CEPA exam or even claim their possession of the exam.
With enrolments in the UAE’s private universities having risen by almost 40% over the past four years, more and more graduate-level candidates are flowing into the local labour market. While the job landscape is increasingly buoyant, employers’ expectations are growing, and in some sectors of the economy professional recognition is becoming an essential validation of candidates’ skills and abilities.
Dr Essa Al Bastaki, a communications engineer who was on the staff at UAE University for 30 years, is among a growing number of UAE nationals rising through the higher education ranks.
Finding affordable higher education options in Dubai seems increasingly difficult with private universities cashing in on a growing demand in the region.
The private education market in the Middle East is the fastest growing in the world. With an increasing number of international schools being built, strong population growth and continued economic expansion, the value of the private education market in the GCC has risen to $15 billion. This is according to an IIR Middle East report on ‘Trends in Private Education Investment and Expansion in MENA 2013’.