Jumeira University new addition to Dubai

Dubai: Jumeira University (JU) is one of Dubai's newest additions to the growing number of private institutions, except it is nowhere near Jumeirah, but instead tucked away in Al Quoz.

Founded by retired UAE Army Colonel Khalifa Al Muhairi, JU sits on a 40,000 square metre plot of land, of which the university covers one-third.

"Two-thirds of the land will be Jumeira International School and Jumeira University Hospital," said Dr Hesham Nofal, acting CEO of JU. "The university is simply phase one, but the next phases are part of our five- to 10-year long-term plan."

JU opened its doors to the first intake of 22 students into its Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research-accredited business programme in January. The 3,000-student capacity campus took three years to build and was completed in 2009.

"We got our accreditation for the business programme on January 15, which is when we began contacting the students who had applied online," said Dr Nofal. "We have four colleges with a total of seven programmes and we've submitted proposals to the ministry for six other programmes and are hoping to get accredited by September."

JU's college of business offers accredited programmes in e-management, event management, retail management and Islamic banking and finance.

The other three colleges at JU are health sciences, education and Islamic and Arabic studies. All programmes except those in the latter colleges are based on a US curriculum model and taught in English.

Scholarships

Still finding its feet and aiming to significantly grow its student body by the coming autumn intake, JU currently has three full-time and two part-time faculty members.

However, Dr Nofal added as student numbers increase so will the faculty.

Annual tuition fees amount to approximately Dh32,000; however, JU does have scholarships on offer.

"We follow the standard regulation put in place by the ministry when it comes to scholarship funds, which is five per cent of revenue," he said. "We have three kinds of scholarships for new, existing and needy students."

The scholarships can range from anywhere between 25 and 100 per cent of the annual fees.

Segregated campus

"There is also the Khalifa Al Muhairi Fund, awarded to students at his own discretion," said Dr Nofal.

A distinctive feature of this university is the fact it that it is a segregated campus, accommodating separate male and female sections.

Although for a private university in Dubai this may seem odd, it was deliberately chosen as such by the founders to keep in line with tradition.

Seeing as 80 per cent of the current student body is Emirati, it seems to be working.

"Honestly, I didn't want a mixed university because it's not something I'm used to," said Mohammad Juma, 24, who studies human resources. "I heard about JU from friends, checked it out and liked it," he said.