United Arab Emirates

Canadian Branch Campus Shuts Up Shop

After just three years, Canada’s University of Waterloo is giving up on its Dubai campus after enrolling only 30 percent of the student population required to keep the campus afloat.

The Ontario-based university said that it needed an annual enrollment of 480-500 students to make the Dubai campus viable, with students taking their first two years in Dubai and transferring to Waterloo for the last two years. Tuition fees had been set at C$20,000 per year, with a target market of South Asians and Arab expats. The Dubai campus was offering chemical and civil engineering, financial analysis and risk management, and information technology management.

Sallie Keller, vice-president of academics and provost, said that the Dubai campus failed not only because of insufficient enrollment, but also because of the inability to form research partnerships in Dubai.

“We learned that we need to have viable international partnerships … and without that we can’t sustain the program,” Keller said.

– The Record
November 8, 2012

Ministry Issues Warning About Bogus Online School

The UAE’s Ministry of Higher Education has warned students to check with it before beginning online programs, following complaints about unaccredited degrees from an online entity, Most University, actively recruiting in the country.

The university makes claims to be affiliated with Dubai and Abu Dhabi health authority hospitals and said the organizations were attesting and licensing the school’s degrees in health sciences. But neither authority accepts online degrees in any specialization.

Officials from Must University told The National that as many as 15,000 students from the UAE had taken courses with them, with 500 having graduated and 110 working in the country’s medical sector. The institution says the school’s affiliation with the UAE goes back 10 years and students were initially recruited at an education exhibition in 2010.

Ahmed Al Zarooni, director of medical licensing at the Ministry of Health, said the ministry did not recognize online degrees or accept distance learning for clinical practices. The ministry accepts degrees from the Hamdan Bin Mohammed e-University in Dubai, but only for administrative roles. Must is listed by the state of Oregon’s Office of Degree Authorization, which keeps a close eye on bogus schools around the world, as lacking “appropriate approval or accreditation.”

– The National
November 27, 2012