Tuesday, Feb 22, 2011
Gulf News
Dubai: The number of acad-emic institutions being shut down due to standards falling below international norms has drastically decreased in the past decade, the UAEs Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) said.
Professor M. Badr Abu Ela, director of the CAA at the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, said the decline was caused by the saturation of the UAEs higher education market.
His statement comes amidst recent reports of five cases of university programmes being sent back to the drawing board by the CAA for re-evaluation.
They are Ajmans Gulf Medical Universitys physical therapy degree programme; Ajman University of Science and Technologys bachelors degree in information studies; a masters in software engineering at Al Hosn University in Abu Dhabi; a masters in business administration at the New York Institute of Technology; and the University of Dubai, which had six professional certificates rejected by the CAA last year.
In the last two years we have had zero rejections in terms of the establishment of new academic institutions, Abu Ela said.
Quick facts
- Around 92,000 students are enrolled in academic institutions across the UAE.
- 500 programmes on offer at 71 CAA and Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research-registered institutions.
- There are 68 private or free zone CAA and ministry-registered academic institutions
- Three federal CAA and ministry-registered academic institutions.
- One third of the students enrolled at academic institutions study Business Administration.
By Rania Moussly, Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2011. All rights reserved.
