University of Birmingham to open branch campus in Dubai

The first international campus for UoB will offer courses in business, economics, computer science, mechanical engineering, and primary and secondary teacher education to 4,500 students from November.

LONDON // The University of Birmingham will open a branch campus in Dubai this year – the first global top 100 ranked institution to do so.

At what will also be the university’s first international campus, courses in business, economics, computer science, mechanical engineering, and primary and secondary teacher education will be offered from November with student numbers rising to 4,500.

The announcement was made during Going Global, a conference for leaders in international education in London.

“We are going to begin with undergraduate and postgraduate-taught programmes and then we will follow with recruiting PhD students,” said Prof Sir David Eastwood, principal and vice chancellor.

“We will develop research initiatives from the beginning, and initially they will be developed from the expertise that we have in Birmingham.”

It is the first university from the Russel Group, which represents the 24 leading British research-focused institutions, to come to Dubai.

Areas including energy storage, future cities, education, railway, smart cities and Islamic banking will be the focus for research.

“We will be working on sustainability, liveable cities and the way they build supply chains. We are also interested in what will constitute the global city,” said Prof Eastwood.

The university’s engineering courses are expected to be popular as the UAE aims to increase the number of students taking more practical subjects instead of courses such as mass communications, marketing and business administration.

At present, those wanting to study engineering can choose from Abu Dhabi University, Heriot-Watt University, Higher College of Technology and American University of Dubai, among others.

The University of Birmingham is listed 82nd in the QS World University Rankings 2016-2017. New York University, which has a branch campus in Abu Dhabi, was ranked 46th. No regional university made the top 100.

Staff from the home campus in Birmingham will teach in Dubai, although 80 per cent of the faculty will be recruited.

Fees will be on a par with what the university charges in the UK, with undergraduate engineering courses expected to cost about Dh94,000 a year. The curriculum will be the same at both campuses.

It is hoped that being based in Dubai will help it to attract students from the subcontinent.

“We want to make Dubai a hub for our students’ international experience,” said Prof Eastwood. “We will have opportunities for students to move to Dubai for a semester or longer, and a similar mobility for staff.

“Our market research has suggested that a high-quality university in Dubai would be attractive to students from the subcontinent.”

Dr Abdulla Al Karam, director general of Dubai’s education regulator the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, was in London for the announcement.

“Unlike schools, in higher education people come from abroad and more institutions means more students. Students from Africa, Asia and GCC are coming to the UAE to study,” said Dr Al Karam.

Yowan Jodha, of IDP Education – an international organisation offering student placements – said UK universities were opening campuses in the UAE to target students from the country, as well as the Middle East, Africa and the subcontinent.

“For a lot of students the primary option is to study in the UK, but the branch campus becomes a fallback for those who can’t go for family or financial reasons,” said Mr Jodha. “Also with visa regulations, branches can be a good option.”

The University of Birmingham Dubai will be in Dubai International Academic City. The first phase of the campus will open in autumn, with the first undergraduate and postgraduate students starting classes in September next year.