UAE scholarships: 15 reasons students could lose their funding

Scholarship students in the UAE could have their scholarships cancelled for reasons including poor academic performance, unauthorised employment, prolonged absence or providing forged academic documents, under rules set by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MoHESR).

The ministry has begun implementing a regulatory framework governing scholarship students, setting out 15 grounds for cancelling scholarships, seven cases for suspending financial allowances and 11 academic and administrative violations that could lead to disciplinary action.

According to the ministry’s Scholarship Student Guide, a scholarship may be cancelled if a student breaches the scholarship agreement or fails to activate it within three months of signing.

Cancellation may also follow poor academic performance after receiving a third and final warning, discontinuing studies for a month or more without an accepted reason, or being expelled by the educational institution.

Other grounds include failing to reactivate a frozen scholarship within the permitted period, exceeding the approved study period, or taking up employment inside or outside the UAE without prior written approval.

Students could also lose their scholarship for behaviour that harms the UAE’s reputation or interests, joining organisations that harm the country’s interests, or receiving another scholarship.

Fraud or forgery involving academic documents, cancellation of a study or residence permit, certain court judgments, or being unable to continue studying for health reasons based on certified medical reports may also result in cancellation.

The ministry has also identified 11 academic and administrative violations that could result in disciplinary measures.

These include changing a degree, specialisation or educational institution without approval, exceeding the permitted absence limit, withdrawing from courses without permission and failing to register for a required semester.

Students may also face action if their semester GPA falls below 2.0 for undergraduate programmes or 3.0 for postgraduate programmes, or if they study through distance or other non-traditional learning methods without approval.

Financial allowances can be suspended in seven cases, including when students fail to register full-time or provide proof of registration for a semester.

Payments can also be stopped if students discontinue or withdraw from their studies without approval, exceed the approved graduation period without an official extension, or during periods when their studies are frozen.

For employed scholarship students, allowances may also be suspended if their approved educational leave expires without an extension from their employer.

MoHESR can also recover financial allowances, tuition fees and other benefits already paid in seven circumstances.

These include withdrawing without an accepted reason, repeated academic failure, breaching scholarship conditions, unauthorised absence or discontinuation of studies, and receiving financial assistance from another entity without approval.

Students may also be required to repay funds if they fail to complete an agreed period of service in the UAE after graduation or receive financial allowances to which they were not legally entitled.