The University of Birmingham Dubai, one of the UAE’s only global top 100 ranked institutions, is onboarding more than 40 new academics following a recruitment surge to support a series of new programmes as part of the institution’s growth.
The University, which currently has an academic team of more than 75 people, opened its new smart campus in Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) in April, in the presence of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai. The campus can currently support up to 2,900 students but will eventually be able to support up to 4,500 students.
The new academics include leading professors, scientists, and researchers from around the world. They have been brought in to lead more than 10 new courses in areas including AI and machine learning, data science, finance, public health, environmental law, marketing, and construction, among others. A number of new specialist courses will also launch in January. The new academics not only support the University’s world-leading undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, but further strengthen the UAE’s position as a global higher education hub.
“We are delighted to welcome so many luminaries and experts across such a breadth of fields. Universities in Dubai are not only increasingly popular among international students – but also among academics,” said Professor David Sadler, Provost at the University of Birmingham Dubai.
“Launching the new smart campus in April was a significant step in our growth strategy. This latest raft of appointments reflects the demand for our courses and will further enhance our contribution to the UAE’s robust education ecosystem and future workforce. All our programmes feature a combination of research-led and modern teaching techniques, enabled by our smart campus, which is powered by innovative spaces and 4IR technologies, such as AI and IoT sensors.”
The University of Birmingham Dubai’s programmes are in line with the UAE’s strategies in sectors including AI, urban development, healthcare, business, and education. The institution’s courses not only prepare students with the skills they need to thrive in future jobs, but they also support UAE-based industries with top local and global talent.
The University’s 41 new academics are spread across a variety of schools. They include: 7 in the International Academy; 6 in the Business School; 5 in the School of Computer Science; 4 in the School of Geography; 3 in the Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences and the School of Psychology; 2 in the School of Nursing, School of Maths, School of Engineering, School of Education, School of Biomedical Sciences, Institute of Applied Health Research, and Birmingham Law School; and 1 in the School of Social Policy.
Dr Saneesh Edacherian, Programme Director of MSc International Business, is one of the new academics to join the University of Birmingham Dubai. He said: “The UAE government’s continuous focus on building a knowledge and innovation-driven economy opens tremendous opportunities for academicians to explore and expand this horizon through a symbiotic relationship of tacit knowledge exchange.
“The University of Birmingham Dubai, as a top-ranked university, with years of expertise in research and education, is rightly placed to provide me with an ecosystem to nurture my aspiration to participate in the knowledge and innovation-driven economy of the UAE through my research and teaching.”
Nisha Dhanda, Assistant Professor, Applied Health Research and Deputy Programme Director of MSc in Public Health, said: “I have great admiration for the culture and vibrancy of the GCC region, and feel Dubai is the epitome of this. I had the pleasure of working at the University of Birmingham’s UK campus, so the Dubai campus felt like the perfect fit for me, bringing together a respected and global university in the heart of Dubai.
“Since Covid-19, public health has been at the forefront of people’s minds and will remain so. The market in Dubai is very focussed on employability and progression. Our MSc Public Health programme equips students with the skills and knowledge to appraise and evaluate health research in order to implement policy for the greater public good.”
Dr Eloise Elaine Phillips, Programme Director of MSc Advanced Practice in Healthcare, said: “Having the opportunity to pursue my passion of impacting on the education of healthcare professionals internationally, while remaining in the Middle East was partially what drew me to the University of Birmingham Dubai. The MSc Advanced Practice in Healthcare programme is very new to the UAE. I believe the University of Birmingham Dubai can be the catalyst for the adoption of new and innovative roles for registered clinicians in the UAE, MENA region and indeed internationally.”
The University of Birmingham Dubai is one of the only UAE institutions that is part of the Russell Group, an association of 24 public research universities headquartered in Cambridge, UK. It was the first global top 100 and Russell Group university to establish a campus in Dubai in September 2018, adding to the leading education hub’s roster of global and local internationally accredited academic institutions
The University of Birmingham Dubai is accredited by the UAE Ministry of Education, recognising the quality of its educational experience.
