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.