Curtin University Dubai expands campus and enhances facilities

Curtin University Dubai is expanding its Dubai International Academic City campus. The construction, set to be complete by September 2025, will increase the university’s size in square footage by 50%. This will help build the capacity needed to cater to excessive demand for CU Dubai’s programs in Business, IT, Engineering, Psychology, and Design. It will also allow the university to invest in the technology and infrastructure needed to fuel the careers of the future.

The new wing will be a hub for visually-inspiring, human-centric, technologically enhanced creativity, innovation and research.

The new wing will also be home to Curtin University Dubai’s largest state-of-the-art lecture theatre, spread over 3,600 sq ft, it will become a key venue to accommodate our growing student body, our flagship community event, ‘The Business Cup Challenge’, our premier sustainability conference (ICISAS), and the Pro Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Speaker series.

At the centre of the expansion will be large, open and inviting student spaces, providing independent and group study arrangements, learning pods, a brand new cafe and dining space. This vibrant student space will flow through the centre of the new wing, connecting all its arteries and acting as its beating heart.

As the university is set to launch its School of Design, one of the campus’s centre pieces will be a unique, collaborative, and open design studio. The spacious Design Studio, cultivating an industrial feel, will blend traditional aesthetics and ultra-modern technology, positioning 3D printers, Laser Cutters, and VR tech, alongside timeless necessities of design such as drafting tables and pure open spaces. Adjacent to the studio will be brand new Mac Labs built for Game and Graphic Design capabilities.

The expansion will also allow the university to build its first Future Technologies Centre (FTC) in Dubai. The FTC will focus on harnessing the potential of new technologies powering the growth of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Cyber Security to inspire the minds of tomorrow, and exponentially augment CU Dubai’s position as a research hub for Digital Mental Health, Sustainable Technology, and the Future of Work.  The Future Technologies Centre will also serve as a learning platform for CU Dubai’s newly launched Masters in AI and Masters in Cyber Security programs, and will be used to facilitate interdisciplinary learning across all of Curtin Dubai’s programs.

The Director Learning and Teaching, Curtin University Dubai, Dr. Bilal Siddiqi is looking forward to the new learning environments the expansion will produce: ‘The expansion will allow for new spaces designed to support innovation and creativity. Our future learning environments will foster collaboration locally and with other Curtin campuses through our distributed learning classrooms. The future of education demands adaptable, open, technologically integrated facilities to build a bridge to the new world at our doorstep. We remain focused on creating a built environment which fosters critical thinking and inspires students to produce solutions to the problems of tomorrow.’

Professor Ammar Kaka, President and Pro Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University Dubai said, “I am very excited by the expansion of Curtin Dubai’s campus as it will enable the introduction of new programs, provide even better pastoral support for students, open up opportunities for students to collaborate globally in classes and projects, and prepare students for their future by giving them access to the most current technologies and opportunities to launch businesses from the campus.  As a university ranked in the Top 200 in the world, with accreditation / licensing from Australia, KHDA, and CAA, and a 95% graduate employment rate in Dubai, we are poised to give students an education that fully prepares them for employment in the UAE and around the world.”