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Student transitions from secondary to tertiary education have attracted global attention as universities and colleges of higher education seek to improve student retention. Over the course of one academic year, I documented the transitional experiences of first-year male Emirati students at a college of higher education in a rural location of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In this paper I describe four categories of cultural border crossing experiences – smooth, managed, difficult, and impossible – with easier and smoother crossing experiences associated with close congruency (related to the students’ self-perceived attitude and scholastic preparedness as broadly reflected in their competence in their second language, English) between the predominantly Arabic life-world associated with Emirati families and government schooling and the dominant Western/English language culture in institutes of higher education. Additionally, I describe and evaluate students’ cultural border crossing experiences with some Foundation program faculty, finding that those teachers who developed a classroom culture based on Kleinfeld’s (1975) notion of ‘warm demandingness’ and caring rapport-building appeared to have the most positive impact upon the students. Implications from this research have the potential to positively impact both the student and faculty classroom experience in the Gulf tertiary classroom, in addition to improving overall student retention rates.

The purpose of this paper is to report on an applied research project that was conceived in response to the low number of Emirati high school graduates entering directly into undergraduate programmes in higher education institutions mainly due to lack of adequate academic English proficiency. Performing well in international standardised testing such as the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is of primary importance in preparing non-English speaking learners for higher education delivered through the medium of English.

Three hundred ninety-one secondary education Emirati students were involved in an intervention study. The study was cross-sectional, and it used a pre/post-design to measure change and impact on the students’ IELTS scores with comparisons between different experimental groups by gender, region and overall. Additional attitudinal data were collected using a survey with students, teachers and principals involved in the intervention programme.

Results showed a statistically significant and educationally meaningful pre/post-improvement for the students who attended the IELTS preparation programme and a positive attitude towards the intervention programme.

A limitation of the study is that it used a quasi-experimental design with some threats to the validity of the design, so some caution is suggested in drawing conclusions which are too strong.

This project is the first of its kind in the United Arab Emirated as it endeavoured to raise secondary education Emirati students’ awareness of the knowledge and skills involved in succeeding in the IELTS exam and provided evidence of the kind of programme that could have a positive impact on student learning.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate why beginning university Emirati students might believe they are unfairly treated by their instructors. By understanding student perceptions, the learning needs of such students can be better catered for, and learning outcomes enhanced.

An interpretivist approach was taken to investigate a finding from a standardized survey of student satisfaction which showed that students felt they were treated unfairly by their instructors. Focus group interviews were used to uncover the possible reasons why students believed they received unfair treatment.

Interpersonal or interactional unfairness is the type of unfair treatment most often cited by the Foundation students who participated in this study, indicative of the importance of interpersonal relations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) higher education teaching and learning environment.

Although the study is situated within one Foundations program in the UAE, the imperative for instructors to build positive interpersonal relationships with beginning students is highlighted, as well as the need for curricular transparency and ongoing moderation of grading practices, and the importance of informing students about these practices.

The imperative of building positive pedagogical relationships with beginning university Arab Gulf students is highlighted, as well as the need for transparent practices such as moderation of grades, and explicitly informing students about fair practices.

Drawing on data from faculty instructors, the paper suggests that a deeper, macrosystemic level of educational unfairness may also be at play: that is, the unfairness inherent in the hegemony of English, and the disconnect between the quality of the state school system and the demands of university. Until these educational issues are addressed, perceptions of unfair treatment in Foundations programs in the Gulf are likely to continue.

As higher education continues to undergo expansion and transformation in the UAE, increasing numbers of academic staff from around the world migrate there, and thousands of Gulf students continue to emigrate to study overseas. This paper contributes important insights into Gulf students’ perceptions.