Student enrolment at universities across the UAE reached 218,000 in the 2025/26 academic year, a 15 per cent increase on the previous year, as institutions roll out new programmes and expansion plans to attract more students from the region and beyond.
Khalifa University became the first UAE institution to break into the top 150 of the QS World University Rankings, climbing 30 places to rank 147th globally. Abu Dhabi University also ranked 81st in the world for business and economics studies.
Abu Dhabi University said it plans to launch eight new undergraduate programmes at its Dubai campus, including courses in artificial intelligence, law and psychology. The University of Sharjah, meanwhile, welcomed more than 5,000 new students this academic year.
The enrolment growth comes as the number of UAE student visa applications to the United Kingdom has fallen sharply, from 638 in 2022 to just 257 in 2025, a decline educators attribute to tighter visa rules and safety concerns abroad.
Bassam Murra, Abu Dhabi University's executive director of marketing, enrolment and registration, said Dubai has become a hub for international education and that the university wants to be part of that growing market.
Education analysts say the trend reflects a broader shift: as fewer Gulf students choose to study in the UK, local universities are stepping in to capture students who might otherwise have gone abroad, reinforcing the UAE's ambitions to position itself as a regional and global education destination.