Dubai, one of the emirates of UAE, is home to twenty-five international universities. For the first time in history, authorities have ranked seventeen of the twenty-five private institutions’ branch campuses. This initiative is termed as the “Higher Education Classification.”
The regulatory body which monitors the standard of education in Dubai is the Knowledge and Human Development Authority(KHDA). The University ranking results, which were announced by KHDA is viewed as a progressive measure and a sign of maturity of the higher education sector in Dubai.
Dubai is a preferred city for expatriates to stay with their families. And as a result, the last two decades have seen incredible growth in renowned universities opening their campuses in Dubai.
Student enrollment has doubled in the last decade. From twelve thousand students in 2008, today the total number of students have reached thirty thousand.
But there has been no assessment of these campuses done by an external entity. They seem to strive on the brand name of their parent campuses.
The measurement criteria for Higher Education Classification
QS Stars developed the parameters for evaluation, in collaboration with KHDA. It is a world-renowned methodology developed for rating universities considering several parameters. This offers the students an impartial insight into the University of their choice.
Some of the core categories were the quality of teaching which measured faculty-student ratio, highest qualification of faculty; employability of students; research papers published per faculty, international diversity of student body, IT Infrastructure, Well-being of students, the extent to which institutions engage with the community, and so on.
It is interesting to note that none of the seventeen colleges that were evaluated received the highest accolade – “5-star-plus” rating. Each University was awarded one to five stars for each criterion.
Educators have welcomed this move saying that this indicates the importance given to higher education in Dubai. Transparent ratings such as these will create trust in the system attracting more Universities into Dubai.
Only three of the seventeen universities received a five-star rating. These are University of Manchester Worldwide, London Business School and Heriot-Watt University.
The initiative is a welcome move as it allows students to select colleges and courses that are most aligned to their needs, and additionally, Universities can use these results as a guideline for improvement.
