Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
Indicators
of the
UAE Higher Education Sector
Overview of UAE Higher Education Institutions
2012-02
November 2012
1
Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research
United Arab Emirates
Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
2
Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DATA AND STATISTICS (CHEDS)
INDICATORS OF THE UAE HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR
2012
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
CHEDS Publication 2012: 02
What is CHEDS?
The Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics (CHEDS), located within the Commission for
Academic Accreditation in the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, is the
national body for the collection, analysis and reporting of data on higher education in the UAE.
© 2012 Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
PO Box 45133
Abu Dhabi
United Arab Emirates
www.cheds.ae
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Overview of UAE Higher Education Institutions, November 2012
At the time of writing this report (October 2012), there are 102 higher education institutions
(HEIs) in the country. The precise number varies rather often as new institutions are created and
others close or merge. Within this constituency are many different varieties of institut ions,
including private and governmental, for-profit and not-for-profit, and institutions having
different types of recognition. Some are solely based in the UAE, while others are branches of
institutions from other countries. There are three institutions supported by the federal
government (Higher Colleges of Technology, UAE University and Zayed University), and referred
to as ‘federal institutions’, there are institutions that are licensed by the CAA and institutions that
are not. Some institutions are located within a recognized free zone in Dubai or Ras Al Khaimah.
These various categories overlap, and are listed in Table 1.
T ABLE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF OPERATIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS OVER THE SEVEN
EMIRATES ( SEPTEMBER
2012).
TYPE
NO.
EMIRATE OF OPERATION ( MAIN CAMPUS OR HAVING BRANCH CAMPUS)
ABU
RAS AL
DHABI
DUBAI
SHARJAH
3
3
2
1
Operational
59
20 (4)
28 (1)
Private
Establishment
7
1
status
Stage
6
SUB TOTAL
not CAA-licensed - Free zone
Federal
CAA-
AJMAN
UMM AL
KHAIMAH
FUJAIRAH
QUWAIN
X
1
1
X
6 (2)
4
3
2 (3)
X
3
1
1
X
X
1
4
1
1
X
X
X
X
75
28
34
9
5
4
3
1
27
X
21
X
X
6
X
X
102
29
56
8
5
10
3
1
licensed -
CAA-licensed - other
(5)
or others
GRAND TOTAL
(1) Includes University of Strathclyde Business School, UAE
(2) Includes Khalifa University of Science, Technology
& Research, Sharjah campus (3) Includes Ajman University campus
(4) Includes campus of EIBFS
(5) Institutions for the uniformed services
The spread of institutions across the seven emirates is shown in Fig. 1.
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
The federal institutions serve the whole country from different locations. UAE University (UAEU)
operates in Al Ain, Zayed University (ZU) operates in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and the Higher
Colleges of Technology (HCT) operate 16 campuses in six cities, namely Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai,
Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah. Each institution offers Foundation, Bachelor and Master
programs. In addition, UAEU offers PhD programs, while HCT offers Readiness, Diploma, and
Higher Diploma programs.
Their enrolment has increased by 22% from 2008/9 (33,144 students) to 2011/12 (40,433
students). This represents 37% of the enrolments at institutions recognized by MOHESR. See
Fig. 2 for more detail.
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
CAA-licensed institutions are private, non-federal, entities, regulated by the standards of the
Commission for Academic Accreditation of the federal Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific
Research. They are not funded by the federal government but some benefit from emirate
funding. Among CAA institutions are semi-government institutions, independent private
institutions, and branch campuses of international institutions. The number of CAA-licensed
institutions has increased from 54 to 74 in the last 5 years (2008-2011). In the same period,
enrollments at licensed institutions have increased from 52,926 to 69,509, an increase of 31%
(excluding specialized Police, Aviation and Naval Colleges). Six of the 74 institutions are in the
establishment stage, and 12 are branch campuses of international institutions.
Non CAA-licensed free zone branch campuses are institutions operating under emirate
legislation, but without a federal license, within recognized free zones in Dubai and RAK. There
are 23 in Dubai, enrolling 13,000 students (according to the Dubai Bureau of Statistics), and five
in Ras Al Khaimah. The great majority of these institutions (25 of 28) are branch campuses of
international institutions, offering instruction toward degrees awarded by the home campus.
T ABLE 2: C OUNTRIES OF HOME INSTITUTIONS OF FREE ZONE BRANCH CAMPUSES
FREE ZONE
UK
USA
INDIA
AUSTRALIA
FRANCE
RUSSIA
PAKISTAN
IRAN
SWITZERLAND
NONE
DUBAI
8
3
4
2
1
1
1
1
0
2**
RAS AL KHAIMAH
1
3
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
** Allied Institute of Management Studies and National Institute of Vocational Education are not
branches of a foreign institution
Clusters of Institutions
CHEDS has computed indicators for 12 clusters of institutions which were identified using the
following clustering criteria across four dimensions:
Level of programs offered: (up to Diploma, Bachelor degree, Master Degree, and Doctoral
programs) (clusters 1-4)
Size of institution : Small (<1,000 students), Medium (1,000 to 3,999 students), and Large
(>3,999 students) (clusters 5-7)
the Federal institutions and the CAA-licensed institutions (clusters 8-9)
Location of main campus: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Northern Emirates (Clusters 10-12)
Tables 3 & 4 give the values of selected indicators for these clusters.
T ABLE 3: S ELECTED INDICATORS FOR C LUSTERS 1-7
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Level of study
Indicator
Enrolment Size of institution
Diploma
BS
MSc
PhD
Small
Medium
Large
Revenue/student
37,168
53659
67759
78751
91353
68813
63496
Expenditure/student
35,260
54202
63919
82024
93257
64871
63350
Financial Aid/student
192
375
3394
1994
2507
1902
2078
Average number of programs
4.9
5.2
13.8
39.0
5.9
15.5
48.3
Average number of international accreds
0
0.7
1.0
1.4
0.6
0.4
3.1
Number books/student
10
43
25
35
49
12
37
Number Journals / area
9
1,889
375
3,766
1,649
1,484
949
Library funds/student
494
138
1,049
651
1,143
1,205
537
Student satisfaction
0.75
0.84
0.73
0.68
0.71
0.75
0.76
Graduate satisfaction
0.73
0.67
0.61
0.56
0.61
0.64
0.59
Ratio of offered places to
number of applicants
0.84
0.60
0.56
0.65
0.27
0.75
0.80
Progress rate
0.81
0.76
0.83
0.81
0.82
0.83
0.79
Success rate
Teaching load/week (assistant & above)
0.87
16.4
0.96
14.6
0.90
10.7
0.91
10.4
0.89
7.8
0.85
11.6
0.93
13.6
Teaching load/week (lecturers)
6.3
16.7
4.4
1.5
5.8
8.3
7.4
Faculty satisfaction
0.68
0.69
0.67
0.79
0.67
0.69
0.77
Student / Faculty ratio
20.0
17.1
16.4
14.7
9.71
20.00
17.20
Proportion PT to FT
Publication score
0.21
0.24
0.18
0.35
0.25
0.79
0.14
0.62
0.32
0.92
0.34
0.87
0.12
0.59
% of UAE National Students
0.71
0.86
0.40
0.53
0.38
0.50
0.65
% of Faculty -PhD Holders
0.12
0.26
0.66
0.66
0.57
0.63
0.52
T ABLE 4: S ELECTED INDICATORS FOR C LUSTERS 8-12
Type of institution
Location
Dubai
Emirate
58122
51415
Federal
74,067
79,064
CAA-licensed
62563
58469
Abu Dhabi
Emirate
75114
78932
Financial Aid/student
Average number of progs
Average number of
international accreds
Number books / student
433
54
3160
11
980
17
1664
9
4353
15
6.0
41
0.6
25
1.3
40
1.0
17
0.5
23
Number Journals / area
Library funds/student
Student satisfaction
268
627
0.86
22,785
742
0.72
2,222
803
0.78
1,228
528
0.76
67
573
0.72
Indicator
Revenue/student
Expenditure/student
Northern
Emirates
56020
50223
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Graduate satisfaction
Ratio of offered places to
number of applicants
Progress rate
Success rate
Teaching load/week
(assistant & above)
Teaching load/week
(lecturers)
Faculty satisfaction
0.73
0.60
0.63
0.66
0.56
0.75
0.73
0.95
0.57
0.83
0.90
0.61
0.75
0.94
0.51
0.82
0.85
0.70
0.87
0.90
10.9
10.7
11.8
11.0
11.0
4.6
0.87
6.1
0.70
7.7
0.72
9.9
0.65
5.0
0.73
Student / Faculty ratio
Proportion PT to FT
Publication score
% of UAE National
Students
% of Faculty PhD Holders
15.8
0.05
0.53
17.9
0.30
0.73
17.3
0.08
0.62
20.5
0.52
0.77
16.0
0.27
0.62
0.91
0.41
0.43
0.65
0.80
0.46
0.42
0.73
0.35
0.65
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