More facilities for increasing female enrolment

Abu Dhabi University will spend Dh17.2 million on a 3,385 square metre expansion to the female dormitory at its Abu Dhabi campus.

The project will meet demand for more on-campus housing at the institution, which houses 495 male and female students at present.

The new facility will have 93 rooms, a multi-purpose hall, gym, discussion and reading rooms and service rooms.

“The new dormitories are a valuable enhancement to our environment and will complement pursuit of international accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC),” said Ali Saeed bin Harmal Al Dhaheri, chairman of Abu Dhabi University’s executive board.

“The university has also started implementing a plan to upgrade and enhance its campus infrastructure, which includes the construction of residential facilities for members of faculty and staff, as well as the addition of several lecture halls, classrooms, and laboratories.”

It is hoped the new facilities will meet an increasing number of enrolments at the university.

During the past academic year, the university, Abu Dhabi’s largest private institution, achieved record growth of 54 per cent in total student enrolment of 6,601 in the first semester of 2014, compared to 4,292 enrolled in the first semester of 2010.

“We expect that these numbers will increase even more, especially with the start of the upcoming academic year,” Mr bin Harmal told Wam, the state news agency.

Since its inception in 2000, the university, which has around 6,000 students at campuses in Al Ain and Abu Dhabi, has become one of only six universities in the UAE to enter the ranks of the world’s top 700 universities in the Quacquarelli Symonds university rankings of 2014-2015.