Dubai: Private universities in Dubai are supporting the UAE’s Year of Giving initiative by offering 600 scholarships to talented students from China.
The announcement was made by Dr Abdullah Al Karam, director-general of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) during the China Study Abroad Forum held in Beijing on March 24.
The scholarships form part of the Study Dubai initiative aimed at strengthening cultural exchange and attracting Chinese university students to Dubai.
Speaking at the forum, Dr Al Karam said: “For Chinese graduates, Dubai’s growing and vibrant economy also presents great career growth prospects in an international environment. We hope that these scholarships will bring our countries even closer, because we know that the friendships that our students make with one another have the ability to nurture the happy and healthy relationship that our countries have with one another.”
The scholarships follow an agreement signed between KHDA and the Chinese Service Centre for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE) in October 2016, which guarantees that the degrees earned by Chinese students in Dubai will be verified by CSCSE and the Ministry of Education in China.
The universities offering scholarships include Amity University Dubai, Emirates Aviation University, Heriot-Watt University Dubai, Middlesex Dubai, and Manipal University.
Dr Narayanan Ramachandran, pro vice-chancellor at Amity University Dubai, said: “Amity University Dubai is committed to The Year of Giving, and happy to offer 300 scholarships to bright, young, and talented Chinese students across all our programmes.”
Dr Ahmad Al Ali, vice-chancellor of Emirates Aviation University (EAU), said: “EAU recently announced a range of scholarships and special value propositions for international students and UAE residents alike. We are also focused on attracting Chinese students to study in Dubai, and to support this, we are offering 150 scholarships …”
Professor Ammar Kaka, head of Heriot-Watt University in Dubai, said the university’s 50 scholarships will offer Chinese students “an opportunity to study a global degree programme in one of the world’s most cosmopolitan and rapidly developing cities, and we are pleased to offer them as part of the new Heriot-Watt Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship programme”.
