The UAE is increasingly drawing Indian students seeking higher education and a spectrum of career prospects.
Beyond the burgeoning IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi campus, several other Indian higher education institutions have set foot in the country. Among them are BITS Pilani-Dubai, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Amity University-Dubai, and SP Jain School of Global Management - Dubai. These institutions not only enrich the academic landscape but also foster cultural ties between the two nations.
Both countries have placed significant emphasis on frameworks and policies for higher education, including national qualification frameworks, to enable the mutual recognition of qualifications.
Let’s take a look at what's known so far about eminent Indian higher education institutions venturing into the UAE in the near future.
Where will the IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi campus launch its operations?
The inaugural international campus of the esteemed Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in the UAE, IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi, is poised to establish its interim campus at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi.
When will academic operations commence?
The IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi campus is gearing up to kickstart academic activities by January 2024, with the first program being the Master’s in Energy Transition and Sustainability.
What courses will be available initially?
The initial course at IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi will focus on Energy Transition and Sustainability, aligning with the sustainability objectives envisioned by COP28, the UN Climate Change Conference scheduled for later this month in Dubai.
Will there be student exchange programs with the main campus?
Efforts to facilitate academic collaboration, including Twinning, Joint Degree, and Dual Degree Programs between Higher Education Institutions in both countries, are actively being considered. This suggests reciprocal research opportunities where students from IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi might go to Delhi IIT for research, and researchers from IIT Delhi would visit the Abu Dhabi campus, benefiting from the UAE's strong network in the energy and petrochemical industry and India's global talent pool.
When was the concept of IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi conceived?
During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Abu Dhabi in July 2023, an agreement between India and the UAE was signed to establish a campus of IIT-Delhi in Abu Dhabi.
More recently, India’s Minister of Education, Skill Development, and Entrepreneurship, Dharmendra Pradhan, met Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the Education and Human Resources Council (EHRC), discussing educational collaboration and reviewing progress on the IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi campus.
Will an IIM be established in the UAE?
Speculations suggest the potential establishment of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) campus in the UAE, marking the first instance of an IIM expanding internationally, akin to the overseas campuses of the Indian Institutes of Technology, Delhi (IITs). There are talks that IIM Ahmedabad might be the pioneer in setting up a campus in the region.
Are other Indian higher education institutions planning to establish themselves in the UAE?
Further Indian universities are considering setting up campuses in the UAE, including the Symbiosis International Educational Centre. Its management recently visited Dubai to initiate a Symbiosis campus here.
Students in the UAE can anticipate courses like Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Bachelor of Computer Applications (BCA), Bachelor of Arts (BA), Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com), Master in Business Administration (MBA), and Masters in Communications.
Additionally, India’s education minister met with Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, UAE Minister of Education, discussing the possibility of opening additional campuses of elite Indian colleges and universities in the UAE. They also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for cooperation in education, envisioning collaboration in the field of Capacity Development of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) teaching staff under this MoU.