According to a report published by the Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) regarding university education in Dubai, a total of 64,064 students enrolled in Dubai's universities and colleges in the past academic year (2017/2018). The report revealed that Emirati students constitute 33% of all students registered at universities and colleges in Dubai, while the remaining 67% are non-Emirati students. Based on the databases of the Ministry of Education and Knowledge and Human Development Authority, the statistics' final results showed that the number of Emirati students came to 21,146 students - compared to 42,918 non-Emirati students.
Gender Balance in the Number of Emirati Students
Data on the number of Emirati students enrolled in Dubai's universities and colleges exhibited a remarkable level of gender balance, as male students represented 49.1% of the total Emirati students while 50.9% were female students. As for the gender distribution across the total population of students (both Emirati and non-Emirati) enrolled in Dubai's universities and colleges, the statistics showed that 54.2% were males (a total of 34,727) while 45.8% were females (a total number of 29,337).
Statistics on non-Emirati students also revealed that male students comprised 56.7% of this population while the percentage of non-Emirati female students was 43.3% representing a gap of 13.4% between the two sexes.
Emirati Students Favor Business, Law and Engineering Disciplines
The report released by DSC singled out business administration as the major which attracted the majority of Emirati students with a rate of 37.3% from the total population of Emirati students enrolled in universities and colleges last year. The Law and Engineering disciplines came second with a rate of 12.7% each. Media and Design majors ranked third with a rate of 12.1%.
Once again, Business Administration major attracted the majority of all students enrolled in Dubai's universities and colleges (Emirati and non-Emirati) taking first place among other major subjects. The percentage of Emirati and non-Emirati male students enrolled for this subject accounted for 49.1% of the total, compared to 22.4% for Engineering and 8.8% for Information Technology.
As for Emirati and non-Emirati female students, Business Administration as a major also ranked first, with a percentage of 41.1%, followed by Humanities which ranked second with 10.3% and Engineering which came third with 9.7%.
Bachelor Degree at Top of Academic Levels
The DSC's report shows that bachelor degree programs topped other academic programs. The report shows that during the academic year of 2017-2018, 73.6% of the Emirati students enrolled in a bachelor degree program at Dubai universities and colleges. The Masters programs ranked second with 16.3% followed by foundation programs with 4.4%. The total number of Emirati students at the bachelor level was 15,569, while in the Master's degree programs they accounted for 3,448 of the students - and only 934 students were enrolled in the foundation programs, with 262 students taking higher diploma courses. As for PhD programs, Emirati students totaled 577 while 356 students enrolled in other programs, such as diploma and other professional certificate programs.
The report also shed the light on the distribution of all the students enrolled in Dubai universities and colleges according to the level of the academic programs. Data shows that the highest percentage of student enrolments were at the bachelor level with 44,726 students representing 69.8% of the total, 14, 489 students enrolled at the Master's level, representing 22.6%, while 2004 students enrolled in the foundation programs making up 3.1% of the total number of students.
Only 1.7% of students enrolled in PhD programs and 2.7% enrolled in other academic programs, including diploma, higher diploma, fellowship and professional certificates.
Nationalities
Considering the nationalities of students enrolled in Dubai universities and colleges during the academic year 2017-2018 (across all disciplines and academic programs), the report pointed out that among non-Arabs, Asian students made up the majority with 35.3% of the total number of students. Emirati students were ranked second with 33.0%, while Arab students constituted 19.5% of the total compared to 3.5% of Gulf students - with all other nationalities making up the remaining 8.7% of the total.
Marking the beginning of the academic school year, Dubai Statistics Center (DSC) organized a "Back to School Event" that included several competitions, along with educational and entertainment activities for the DSC employees' children. The event was concluded by honoring students who excelled.
In a press statement, Asma Al Marzouqi, Acting Director of Corporate Communications and Media Department, stated that the event was held at Dubai Festival City as part of DSC's willingness to commit to an improved workplace environment. "DSC's policy aims to boost the levels of employee happiness and loyalty by paying attention to all aspects of the employees' life, including social perspectives," she remarked, while underlining the fact that DSC's teams fulfill their duties and tasks with a spirit of one family under the slogan "The Happiest Work Family".
She added: "The cartoon character 'Statistician Omar' attracted the children's attention and they expressed their deep appreciation and happiness in attending this remarkable event."
Al Marzouqi concluded by stating: "Within the framework of enhancing the social aspects in the employees' lives, DSC has been encouraging parents and employees to accompany their children to school during the first week of the school academic year. They have been given the necessary flexibility in their working hours to fulfill their family duties."