Dubai to Attract International Students with New Visa Option

Over the last few years, the UAE has been taking steps to increase its immigration and visa system flexibility. Last year, the Golden Visa’s eligibility was extended to encourage international students to come and study in the country. 

The Golden Visa allows you to live, study and work in the UAE for 10 whole years. Previously, it was available only for certain categories of individuals, including talented professionals and students, and property investors. However, now it’s also available for top-performing graduates, PhD holders, physicians, and people working in high-tech fields such as artificial intelligence. “We have over 27,000 students with almost 150 nationalities that are studying in the universities within the park,” said Mohammad Abdullah, Managing Director of Dubai International Academic City and Dubai Knowledge Park

 “[The golden visas are] something that will support universities to attract students from different parts of the world. ” He commented. 

For the last five years, Dubai International Academic City and Dubai Knowledge Park have become hubs for innovation and international education in the region, housing 27 universities: 18 international universities and nine regional and local universities. Many TNE projects have commenced recently or will commence in the near future, and stakeholders are confident about the prospects of international study in Dubai. 

“We will be opening our new state-of-the-art campus in September,” said Ben Bailey, Campus Director of the University of Birmingham, Dubai. The campus is currently under construction and will be able to accommodate up to 2,900 students. “As vaccines begin to help with the impact of Covid-19 in the UAE, Dubai is well-positioned to support the continued growth of the higher education sector in the UAE,” he continued. 

Australia’s Murdoch University will launch its new campus in May 2021 in Dubai Knowledge Park. Heriot-Watt University Dubai will also move into the park in April 2021. “We will now be right at the heart of the modern business and digital community in Dubai,” said Ammar Kaka, Vice-Principal of the university. “This makes the campus location a rich environment for industry-academia collaboration and will also open up work-based learning opportunities for our students.” He continued. 

Mohammad Abdullah, The Managing Director of Dubai International Academic City, further added that encouraging international campuses continues to be essential for Dubai. “The UAE is like a universal city where you have people coming from different parts of the world,” he said, adding that providing a wide range of options in terms of universities and courses is essential in order to attract international students. “If you want to compete in attracting international students around the world, you need to assure that those requirements are available.”