Abu Dhabi: The current Zayed University (ZU) campus in Abu Dhabi will be shut down once the university moves to its new Dh3 billion home in Khalifa City.
The new campus, spanning nearly 20 hectares with the capacity to host an initial intake of 6,000 students is what awaits the ZU family, when it opens in September.
The campus is a Dh3 billion partnership between the Mubadala Development Company, the Abu Dhabi Education Council and ZU.
"In the 2010 academic year alone, our student intake increased by 23 per cent," Dr Sulaiman Al Jasem, vice-president of ZU.
"This new campus will accommodate our current population of students and allow for future growth of up to 10,000 students, as enrolment continue to increase."
Room for expansion
The new campus consists of three main phases, housing a total of 28 buildings, including a convention centre that seats up to 1000 people, a sports complex, and residential buildings.
It will also be home to a children's education centre to provide child care facilities for both students and staff with children.
The ample space in the new campus will also provide an opportunity to expand degree programmes.
"In response to an increasing demand for business programmes, the new campus will house an expanded college of business sciences," said Al Jasem.
"We are still in the process of planning new programmes that will be announced in the future."
Signature roof
The signature element of the new ZU Khalifa City Campus is its roof, inspired by the shaila (female Emirati head cover).
The roof, designed by German architect Hadi Teherani, combines Arabic traditionalism with contemporary form and function.
The roof is constructed from 8,000 tonnes of steel, clad in a layer of four millimetres of aluminium, supported by four towering steel buttresses. Additionally, it features a self-cleaning element, eliminating the need for costly time-consuming cleaning.
