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29 March 2024

UAE mulls low-cost colleges for expats

Published
By V M Sathish

The UAE will set up a chain of low-cost community colleges to cater to the higher education requirements of the expatriate community. 

Currently negotiations between Calicut University - based in the South Indian state of Kerala - and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Higher Education and other relevant departments are ongoing.  

Dr M Abdul Salam, Vice-Chancellor, University of Calicut, who recently visited the UAE on the request of the UAE Foreign Minister and others regarding the accreditation requirements for the proposed low-cost colleges, told 'Emirates24|7': "Myself and my team from the University of Calicut held discussions  with Mohammed Jazim Al Nowais, Deputy Director in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abu Dhabi and Hamad Al Nowais at their request for establishing low-cost community colleges in the UAE to meet the educational requirements of the workforce in the UAE.”

The cost of higher education has been escalating in established colleges and schools and some students cannot continue their education here.

There are also cases where some families resorting to the extreme step of committing suicide because they cannot afford the higher education fees. 

The Indian Consulate now helps poor Indian students in the UAE pay tuition fees.

He said the UAE authorities have requested the affiliation of Calicut University for this purpose. “The University of Calicut Syndicate will seriously consider the proposal as many other Universities may get a chance to do the accreditation of these courses, if we fail to do it. We are currently repositioning the University in the global market and this proposal will be helpful to the University, expatriate students and workers here,” he added.

These low-cost community colleges will enroll not only Indian expatriates but also workers and students of other nationalities, he added. 

He did not elaborate on the structure of these colleges, the involvement of private investors or the time frame for starting the institutions. 

Ahmed Rafi B Ferry, Chief Executive Officer, Wisdom Education Group which runs several educational institutions for Indian expatriates said: 

“Setting up low-cost community colleges in the UAE for the expatriates will definitely help the low-income expatriates. 

He also reasoned that a college campus in Ras Al Khaimah can offer at half the rate prevailing in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. 

The Vice-Chancellor inspected seven ongoing University Centers in Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaimah, and Sharjah. Currently, the University has enrolled about 2000 Indian students in various centres offering University Degrees and other courses. “We will also address the problems raised by the expatriate student community here. After we doubled the fees for some courses from $200 per year to $400, many expatriate students could not afford to pay and have requested a reduction in fee. After examining the matter in detail, it was felt that the issue needs a detailed study to rationalise the decision. Since there is no time to delay this decision, it was necessitated to keep the decision in abeyance until a Committee studies this and take suitable decision.” 

The Vice-Chancellor has also visited a proposed new college, International College of Law, Business Administration and Technology (ICLBAT) in Ajman which is being approved by the Calicut University. In order to address the various problems raised by parents and students of the University based in the UAE and other Middle  Eastern countries, he has also declared opening a Gulf Students Facilitation Cell in the University . “A senior section officer has been appointed to head the Cell. It is his responsibility to solve all the problems of Gulf students affiliated to the Calicut University in a quick and time bound manner.” 

A Consortium of Calicut University Gulf Education Centres and a Calicut  University Alumni Forum will be set up in the UAE to coordinate the academic activities of Gulf Indian students community. Students of the School of Distance Education will be provided with identity cards and all the University facilities including library, laboratories, sports and games facilities. There will also be an annual Gulf Students Festival in India or Gulf as proposed by the newly formulated Consortium of Calicut University Centers.