Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
Indicators
of the
UAE Higher Education Sector
Students and the Learning Environment
2012-03
Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research
United Arab Emirates
November 2012
Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research
United Arab Emirates
Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION DATA AND STATISTICS (CHEDS)
INDICATORS OF THE UAE HIGHER EDUCATION SECTOR
2012
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
CHEDS Publication 2012: 03
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
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
UAE Higher Education: Students and the Learning Environment
(CHEDS Indicators 56-62)
1. Enrolments
In the academic year 2011-12, the 109,942 higher education students in the UAE were enrolled in a large
number of programs at different levels. Fig. 1 & Table 1 show the following:

62% of HE students are UAE nationals

37% of HE students are enrolled in the federal institutions

58% of HE students are female students
T ABLE 1: D ISTRIBUTION OF ENROLMENTS BY NATIONALITY AND GENDER – A CADEMIC YEAR 2011-12
Enrolments
UAE
UAE
Nationality
Nationals
Gender
M
F
Number
26,773 41,079
Total-1
67,852 (62%)
Total-2
Private Institutions
Expatriates
UAE Nationals
Expatriates
M
F
M
F
M
F
19,714 22,376 16,361 14,238 18,451 20,459
42,090 (38%)
30,599 (44%)
38,910 (56%)
109,942
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
69,509 (63%)
Federal Institutions
UAE Nationals
M
F
10,412 26,841
37,253 (92%)
Expatriates
M
F
1,263 1,917
3180 (8%)
40,433 (37%)
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Fig. 2 and Table 2 show that:
21% of the students are enrolled in Diploma & Higher Diploma programs;
67% of the students are enrolled in Bachelor programs,
11.7% of the students are enrolled in Postgraduate Diploma & Master programs,
0.3% of them are PhD students.
T ABLE 2 : D ISTRIBUTION OF ENROLMENTS – A CADEMIC YEAR 2011-12
Nationality
Federal
Institutions
Private
Institutions
Total
Diploma
Nationals Expatriates
Bachelor
Nationals Expatriates
PG-Diploma &MSc
Nationals Expatriates
Nationals
PhD
Expatriates
12,192
226
19,667
2,731
5,331
167
61
58
5,978
4,542
21,340
30,109
3,170
4,202
111
57
18,170
4,768
41,007
32,840
8,501
4,369
172
115
The numbers of national and expatriate students are nearly equal (53% & 47% respectively) for graduate
and bachelor programs whereas UAE national students represent 78% of the enrolments of diploma and
higher diploma programs.
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
The partition of UAE National students according to the level of study is as follows (see Fig. 3):
26.8% of UAE Nationals are enrolled in Diploma and Higher Diploma programs
60.4% of them are enrolled in Bachelor programs
12.5% of them are enrolled in Postgraduate Diploma and Master programs
0.3% UAE National students are enrolled in PhD programs
The National Bureau of Statistics provided statistics to CHEDS from which CHEDS estimated that the total
number of UAE nationals whose age is between 18 and 23 is 119,720 (59,120 Males, and 60,600 Females).
This means that 57% of the UAE National population of this age band are enrolled in higher education.
This percentage is 68% for females and 45% for males.
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Fig. 4 shows that the distribution of expatriate students by level of study is different from that of UAE
nationals :
Only 11.3% of the Expatriate students are enrolled in Diploma & Higher Diploma programs
78% of the Expatriates are enrolled in Bachelor programs
10.4% of them are enrolled in PG – Diploma & Master programs
0.3% of them are PhD students
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
2. Enrolment Growth (2008-2011)
Fig. 5 illustrates the significant growth of the total enrolments in higher education institutions during the
last four academic years. In the academic year 2011-12, the total enrolments increased to 109,942 from
103,641 students in 2010-11, an increase of 6%. This increase is also 6% for the federal and the private
institutions considered separately.
Growth of Number of UAE National students in 2008-2011
Fig. 6 depicts the growth of male and female UAE national students between 2008 and 2011.
The total number of UAE national students has increased for each academic year since 2008-09 in both
federal and private institutions. In fact, their number increased from 52,577 in 2008-09 to 67,852 in 2011,
an increase of 29% in four years. The number of male students has increased more in the private
institutions (57%) than in the federal ones (25%) whereas that of female students has increased by 30% in
the private institutions and by 17% in the federal ones.
Female UAE nationals prefer to enroll in federal institutions: 65% of them are enrolled in the federal
institutions whereas this percentage is only 39% for male students. On the other hand, the number of UAE
male students in the private institutions became greater than that of female ones since 2009. It may also
be seen that the percentage of UAE male students represented 35% of UAE national students in 2008 and
it has increased to 39% in 2011-12.
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Growth of number of Expatriate students in 2008-2011
As for UAE national students, the number of expatriate students has increased. It rose from 33,513 (in
2008) to 42,090 (in 2011), increasing for both genders. See Fig. 7. The three-year increase is only 26%
which is less than that of UAE national students (29%). This percentage is 21% and 30% for male and
female expatriate students respectively. 93% of expatriate students are enrolled in the private institutions.
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
3. Distribution of students by area of specialisation
Figs 8 & 9 and Table 3 show the distribution of students over the broad areas of specialization.
T ABLE 3: S TATISTICS OF E NROLMENTS 2011-12
Area of Specialization
Arts &Design
Business Administration
Education
Engineering
Foundation& Undeclared
UAE Nationals
M
F
30
946
7,687
11,319
136
2,250
5,098
3,753
3,704
7,170
Expatriates
M
F
192
941
6,996
5,959
259
1,450
5,436
2,742
658
536
Information Technology
Languages
Law &Sharia
Mass Communication
Medical& Health Sciences
Science
2,119
64
5,500
1,671
379
87
3,586
571
3,360
2,919
2,132
580
1,285
145
1,826
861
1,286
230
298
2,493
540
Social Sci.& Humanities
Total
Total--Nationality
26,773
41,079
67,852
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
Total
2109
31,961
4,095
17,029
12,068
All
%age
1.9%
29.1%
3.7%
15.5%
11.0%
738
429
1,444
1,590
4,209
363
7,728
1,209
12,130
7,041
8,006
1,260
7.0%
1.1%
11.0%
6.4%
7.3%
1.1%
1,975
5,306
4.8%
109,942
109,942
100.0%
100.0%
19,714
22,376
42,090
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
The number of national students is greater than that of expatriates in all areas of specialization except
Arts & Design, Languages, and Medical & Health Sciences (Table 3).
Fig. 9 shows that UAE national male students represent less than 10% of the enrolments in six areas of
specialization, namely Arts & Design, Education, Languages, Medical & Health Sciences, Sciences, and
Social Sciences & Humanities. On the other hand, the percentage of male expatriates is less than 10% in
only two areas, namely Arts & Design and Languages.
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Table 4 gives the distribution of students across the various areas of specialization for each gender and
nationality excluding those enrolled in foundation programs.
T ABLE 4: R ELATIVE DISTRIBUTION OF ENROLMENTS BY GENDER AND NATIONALITY
UAE Nationals
Area of Specialization
Expatriates
Arts &Design
Business Administration
Education
Engineering
Information Technology
Languages
M
0.1%
33.3%
0.6%
22.1%
9.2%
0.3%
F
2.8%
33.4%
6.6%
11.1%
10.6%
1.7%
M
1.0%
36.7%
1.4%
28.5%
6.7%
0.8%
F
4.3%
27.3%
6.6%
12.6%
3.4%
2.0%
Law &Sharia
Mass Communication
Medical& Health Sciences
Science
Social Sci.& Humanities
23.8%
7.2%
1.6%
0.4%
1.3%
9.9%
8.6%
6.3%
1.7%
7.4%
9.6%
4.5%
6.7%
1.2%
2.8%
6.6%
7.3%
19.3%
1.7%
9.0%
Total
100%
100.0%
100.0%
100.0%
This shows that all students, regardless of nationality or gender, prefer business administration programs.
The second and third choices for UAE male students are Law & Sharia and Engineering programs but the
number of programs offered in Engineering is very large. In summary, about 80% of UAE male students
are enrolled in these three areas (BA, Law & Sharia and Engineering). Furthermore, there has been a
significant increase in the number of UAE national students enrolled in Law & Sharia over the last three
years.
For UAE female students, specialization is nearly evenly in Engineering, IT, Education, Medical Sciences,
Law and Social Sciences. At the other end of the scale, only 6% of UAE female students are enrolled in the
three areas of Science, Arts & Design and Languages.
The distribution of expatriate male students is somewhat similar to that of UAE national males. The main
difference is that the percentage of Law & Sharia is relatively small (only 9.6%). The main difference
between the distribution of female expatriates and that of female UAE nationals is that Medical Sciences is
the second preferred specialization (19.3%) whereas this percentage is only 6.3% for UAE national female
students. The areas of Science and Languages are avoided by both male & female expatriate students.
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Table 5 gives the distribution of students by area of specialization and by type of institution (federal &
private), providing further details on the concentration of students.
T ABLE 5: D ISTRIBUTION OF STUDENTS BY AREA OF SPECIALIZATION & TYPE OF INSTITUTION
UAE-Nationals
Specialization
Arts &Design
Business
Administration
Education
Engineering
Foundation &
Undeclared
Information
Technology
Languages
Law &Sharia
Mass
Communication
Medical&
Health Sciences
Science
Social Sci.&
Humanities
Total-1
Total-2
Grand total
Male
Private Federal
22
8
Expatriates
Female
Private Federal
347
599
Total
976
Male
Private Federal
191
1
Female
Private Federal
929
12
Total
1,133
5,069
2,618
4,052
7,267
19,006
6,519
477
5,411
548
12,955
96
2,311
40
2,787
550
1,690
1,700
2,063
2,386
8,851
243
5,190
16
246
1,324
2,525
126
217
1,709
8,178
690
3,014
620
6,550
10,874
585
73
383
153
1,194
1,184
935
1,014
2,572
5,705
1,203
82
706
32
2,023
64
5,075
0
425
270
2,353
301
1,007
635
8,860
143
1,756
2
70
351
1,390
78
54
574
3,270
1,507
164
1,559
1,360
4,590
842
19
1,532
58
2,451
219
160
1,180
952
2,511
1,265
21
4,133
76
5,495
7
80
43
537
667
29
201
70
293
593
117
181
560
1,933
2,791
485
55
1,705
270
2,515
16,361
10,412
14,238
26,841
67,852
18,451
1,263
20,459
1,917
42,090
26,773
41,079
67,852
19,714
109,942
22,376
42,090
4. Clusters of Institutions
CHEDS has computed indicators for 12 clusters which were identified usi ng 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 (<1000 students), Medium (1,000 to 3,999 students), and large
(>3999 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).
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
The next two analyses relate to these clusters.
5. Distribution of UAE National Students
Fig. 10 shows that UAE National students represent 80%, 40% and 35% of the total enrolments in the
three regions, Abu Dhabi Emirate, Dubai, and Northern Emirates, respectively. UAE national students
represent less than 40% of students enrolled in small institutions (Cluster 5) and they represent 70% of the
students enrolled in institutions which offer only Diploma programs (Cluster 1). The high percentage of
UAE national students in Cluster 2 (Bachelor degree) is due to HCT which is a member of this cluster.
Finally, 92% of enrolments of federal institutions are UAE Nationals. See also Section 1.8.5.
6. Student-Faculty Ratio
The student to faculty ratio is based on Equivalent Full Time students (EFTS) and Equivalent F ull
Time faculty (EFTF). The latter was computed using the factor (1/3) for part time faculty , while the
EFTS was determined using the norm of 12 registered credit hours for undergraduate students.
All new students were regarded as FT students because regi stered hours by FT foundation
students are not credited.
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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Indicators of the UAE HE Sector
Fig 11 gives the student-faculty ratios for the clusters. The ratio fluctuates between 15:1 and 20:1
for all clusters except cluster 5 (Small institutions). Institutions in Dubai have a higher stud ent to
faculty ratio (20) whereas institutions in Abu Dhabi and Northern emirates are close to 15.
Fig. 12 illustrates the reasons of the low ratio for cluster 5 (small institutions). (Institution names
have been omitted from the graph.) There are only 11 institutions within this cluster whose ratio
is more than 15 whereas there are many with a ratio less than 5.
© Center for Higher Education Data and Statistics
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