It has really been a good year for international universities that have expanded to include a campus in Dubai. The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) released its updated 2020 rankings which reveal that most international universities consistently claim four or five stars. The Higher Education Classification list is published annually and shows that the level of university education in Dubai remains high.
International university campuses in Dubai
The higher education landscape in Dubai is vibrant and offers a lot of choices to prospective university students. Among the competition, international university campuses stand out. These are branch campuses by international universities located in Dubai’s free zones and offering the high standard of education available in their home institutions. Many of them hail from the UK or North America, including the Scottish Herriot-Watt University and the London Business School. These international universities emphasize subjects that are competitive in the job market today.
English as a foreign language and business courses are extremely popular across international campuses, as they prepare Dubai-based students for jobs in the financial and hospitality sector. Cybersecurity has also risen lately to the forefront of popular courses. More and more businesses across banking and fintech are interested in hiring cybersecurity experts. Computer science and cybersecurity graduates are also pivotal in more niche industries like online retail and online casinos. Online gambling enthusiasts in the United Arab Emirates typically make use of cybersecurity solutions to ensure that they play safely. Many of them use virtual private networks to mask the source of their traffic and remain untraceable. And, in most cases, players turn to secure banking methods like Paysafecard and use e-wallets to transfer funds to their accounts for an added layer of security. Websites such as this highlight the importance of cybersecurity and secure banking methods.
This demonstrates that those graduating with degrees in cybersecurity or similar disciplines may find a much wider array of potential employment options than they imagined at first. Just in August 2020, the University of Wollongong in Dubai (OUWD) announced that it would offer a further three degree programs across computer science, with an emphasis on cybersecurity and big data. As the cybersecurity market is set to rise at a 1% CAGR to reach US$400 billion by 2026, this means that other international universities in Dubai might soon follow suit.
The 2020 Higher Education Classification rankings
Dubai’s international branch campuses contribute towards an impressive variety of competitive degree programs and are very popular with local students, thanks to their international prestige and rankings. In order to help prospective applicants with their choice, Dubai’s KHDA started publishing annual rankings of international universities starting in 2019. Their criteria include the quality of the education offered, the prospects of finding a job upon graduation, the range of resources available, as well as student satisfaction and wellbeing. After the evaluation, the KHDA gives every institution a rating out of five stars for easier comparison.
