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Dubai’s new university can disrupt the traditional model

The last thing the world needs is another dusty educational institution

Senthil Nathan
By Senthil Nathan
Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the establishment of Dubai National University with an investment of AED4.5 billion Handout via Reuters
Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the establishment of Dubai National University with an investment of AED4.5 billion

As an adviser who first came to the UAE in 1990 to help establish higher education, I welcome the launch of the new AED4.5 billion Dubai National University.

The institute plans to be among the top 50 young universities within the next decade.

“We’ll provide specialised and future academic programmes … and be among the best universities in research contributions,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, said when announcing the new university earlier this month.  

Over the last three decades, the scope of UAE education has slowly progressed from providing a clutch of schools for first-generation Emiratis, to the establishment of more than 100 UAE universities.

Some of these institutions are now pursuing research programmes in cutting-edge subjects such as astrophysics, artificial intelligence, bio-saline agriculture, renewable energy and cybersecurity.

More widely, in the last two decades, the GCC countries have focused on quality assurance, which meant working towards international course and institution accreditation to ensure graduates are fit for globally competitive markets. 

The Gulf’s efforts and investments in higher education are slowly bearing fruit. Some regional universities have entered the ranks of the top 200 in the world, including King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, which ranked 101 in the QS 2025 World University Rankings.

Against this backdrop, the announcement of the Dubai National University brings exciting possibilities for the continued development of higher education in the region.

Dubai National University can be a trailblazer for our new age of automation

The history of educational organisations shows us that legacy institutions – traditional universities – are the least likely to introduce out-of-the-box ideas to help their industry evolve.

With this in mind, a major reframing of higher education is long overdue.
The last thing the world needs is another dusty educational institution that uses 21st-century tools to power 20th-century mindsets and processes.  

With strong backing from the emirate’s entrepreneurial leadership and unburdened by legacy systems, Dubai National University can be a trailblazer for our new age of automation.  

Modernisation is an urgent matter in the face of rapidly evolving technologies. Comparable disruptions can be seen in industry shifts in parallel sectors, such as music (Spotify and Apple Music), hotels (Airbnb), taxis (Uber) and retail (Amazon). All of these shifts were led by newcomers and industry “outsiders”.

In this way, Dubai National University can positively impact the future of higher education both regionally and globally by aligning education to modern needs.

Some of the ways it may do this include appointing top industry CEOs to lead university programmes and curriculum design; keeping cutting-edge technology at the forefront of every process; and recruiting innovative thinkers, applied researchers and entrepreneurs as faculty members. 

The university can offer multiple pathways for student success: co-op work-based options, stackable credentials, cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches, integrated projects and applied research and patent opportunities for students at all levels through incubators.

The programme advisory committees should ensure that the curriculum keeps up with a fast-changing world by forging global collaborations at multiple levels – with businesses, communities, universities, NGOs and governments.  

The Dubai National University can avoid the trappings of popular education ranking agencies – which try to mould every institution into the image of traditional universities – by setting a target to become the most innovative university in the world.

By actively inviting and engaging reform-minded thought leaders from higher education and industry as partners, the Dubai National University can become a global destination for students, scholars and leaders searching for a truly modern higher learning institution.  

The initial announcements about the new university’s governance, global advisory council, selective admissions, global collaborations and other details are highly promising, setting the institution on a tradition-breaking path. 

Senthil Nathan is managing director, Edu Alliance Limited, Abu Dhabi

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