Varsities redesign courses to attract int’l students
dubai — Local and international universities participating in the fall edition of the Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (Getex) is making higher education more attractive by providing new courses and revamping programmes.
The Canadian University of Dubai (CUD), for example, has begun offering a bachelor’s programme in sociology and psychology in Arabic.
“There has been a steady increase in student numbers within the university. Many of the other courses offered and taken up are headed in the direction of where Dubai is going in terms of artificial intelligence and other technological evolution,” Abdelrahman Al Nimer, head of customer service and lead conversion office of the CUD, told Khaleej
Times on the sidelines of Getex on Thursday.
The University of Wollongong Dubai (UOWD), on the other hand, has completely revamped their MBA programme to better suit the needs of working professionals, its officials said.
Dr Alastair W Watson, assistant professor in the faculty of business at the UOWD, said the mission is to make the programme more immersive for students.
“It’s been only two days since we launched the new programme. The revised MBA offers more industry engagement and hands-on experience,” added Watson. Students were also offered on-thespot admissions to the UOWD at Getex. Speaking about the turnout for this year’s fair, Watson said: “We are expecting more crowds to come into the fair on Friday, the last day of the fair.”
While changes and new programmes have been welcomed by a lot of students, more enrollees are still leaning towards courses in engineering and medicine, according to higher education institutions.
Nahid Afshan, senior manager of admissions at BITS Pilani, said: “Tech and medical courses continue to be the most popular among students.” And it is a trend that the CUD has also observed, according to Al Nimer.
Varsity search is on
Groups of young students and working professionals looking to pursue their master’s programmes flocked to Getex starting Wednesday, and nearly 220 schools participated in this year’s fair.
Dr Abdulla Al Karam, chairman of the board of directors and director-general of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), said: “Dubai is an important education hub and the Getex platform showcases education offerings from different higher education providers — both regionally and internationally.