The Abu Dhabi Education Council has rejected applications by 30 universities to open in the emirate, the council’s director general said.
Dr Mugheer al Khaili said the emirate was interested only in “quality” institutions and would not create a free zone to attract universities.
Among those the council rejected were foreign universities looking to open branch campuses and proposed private universities.
Other emirates are preparing to rapidly expand their higher education sectors with free zones that do not require institutions to obtain licences from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
“Abu Dhabi will go for quality education,” Dr Khaili said. “I don’t see that we are going to open a free zone in Abu Dhabi. They should come through the process to make sure they’re meeting our standards.”
Nevertheless, the number of universities in Abu Dhabi remains on the rise.
The New York Institute of Technology is planning an expansion, the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi is moving to a new campus on Reem Island and a branch of New York University is to open on Saadiyat Island.
Khalifa University opened a branch in the capital this year and Zayed University, one of the three federal universities, is planning to establish a new campus in Abu Dhabi.
Dubai and Ras al Khaimah have both set up free zones to attract more universities, and each expects to have about 40,000 students in them within a decade.
However, some institutions in Dubai have expressed concern that too many universities could offer similar courses, and that some schools could be forced to shut as a result.
Dr Khaili said he did not want institutions opening merely to exploit what some have termed a “gold rush” by universities looking to cash in on a tuition bonanza.
“We don’t need them to open for people to make money. It’s OK to make money, but provide a good education” as well, he said.
“We’ll help you if you’re going to provide us with what we’re looking for, with what we need. But we don’t need people with certificates. We need educated people.”
The education council is still accepting applications from universities looking to open in the emirate, Dr Khaili added, and new ones are set to open after they receive licences from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.
He noted, however, that they were national private universities, rather than branch campuses of foreign institutions.
Other applications are in the pipeline, he said. “We need the Sorbonne and New York University and we need also affordable schools which are good quality.”
Dubai has also rejected dozens of applications from universities, despite its plan to rapidly expand the number of universities in the emirate.
Last year, it approved only five of the 54 foreign universities hoping to open in Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), one of the emirate’s two main education free zones.
There are now about 10,000 students enrolled at higher education institutions in DIAC and in Dubai’s other free zone for education, Knowledge Village. Most universities based in Knowledge Village are expected to move to DIAC, which is projected to have 40 institutions and 40,000 students by 2015.
Officials at DIAC say they want the free zone to be an education hub for the Middle East, North Africa and Asia, providing skilled people to support the emirate’s “knowledge economy”.
The RAK Free Trade Zone has similar ambitions. It plans to open an education free zone on the border with Umm al Qaiwain, with as many as 15 institutions and 38,000 students.
Several universities have already opened in Ras al Khaimah under free zone rules and another one, the University of Bolton, of Manchester, England, is to open a campus this month. The American University of Sharjah is also planning an expansion.
One of the first US universities to open a branch in the UAE, George Mason University, is also in Ras al Khaimah, but no longer operates under free-zone rules, having secured a licence from the education ministry.
Daniel Bardsley