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 1 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 2 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 3 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%) 4 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 5 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 6 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 7 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 8 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 9 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 10 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 11 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 12 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 13 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 14 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 15