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The purpose of this paper is to discover how higher education institutions may segment the market in a competitive higher education hub and to assess the usefulness of strategic group analysis as an analytical technique for market and competitor analysis. As a case example of a competitive higher education market, this research investigates how higher education institutions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) position themselves and compete with one another.

The research relied mainly on secondary data, which were obtained from the websites of institutions and regulatory bodies. Then, hierarchical cluster analysis was used to identify strategic groups and institutional competitive strategies in the UAE higher education market. A panel of experts helped interpret and explain the cluster results.

Eight distinct institutional clusters were identified, which include public- and privately-owned institutions, as well as elite and specialist institutions. Institution and programme accreditation were found to be particularly important in the UAE market. The institutions in each group appear to operate in a particular market segment, targeting students who have similar needs and wants, and who often share similar demographic features.

It is concluded that strategic group analysis may help institutions to evaluate potential markets, select target segments and develop competitive strategies. In the UAE market context, the results demonstrate how institutions may position themselves to create strong and distinctive identities. The results of the research may be of interest to higher education institutions that operate in competitive markets, and particularly those that want to evaluate foreign markets.

This is believed to be the first study to use a strategic group approach for analysing competitors in a higher education hub.

The purpose of this study is to validate the psychometric properties of the Self-Perceived Employability Scale in the context of the United Arab Emirates (UAE-SPE) and to verify the model fit of the UAE-SPE and University Commitment Scale (UC) (Rothwell et al., 2008) for undergraduate students.

A cross-sectional survey study was carried out to collect the data using a web-based survey tool (Qualtrics) at a public university in the UAE. The sample was 646 undergraduate students.

As a result of the factor analysis, the study validated three factors of SPE for undergraduate students in the UAE that explain their perceptions of their university reputation, their field of study, the state of the UAE labour market and confidence in their skills. Confirmatory factor analysis verified good model fit indices of UAE-SPE and the UC scale. In addition, the study found a statistically significant positive relationship between the UC scale and the three factors of UAE-SPE.

Currently, there is a scarcity of published research on self-perceived employability amongst undergraduate students in higher education institutions in the UAE and the Arab region. This article not only contributes to research on this topic but also validates two scales, allowing cross-cultural comparisons of SPE and UC of undergraduate students in the Arab region and worldwide.

We provide an overview of the state of the higher education system in the UAE, and investigate its capacity to supply Dubai’s economy with skilled labor and achieve the emirate’s strategic social development objectives. We examine various characteristics of the higher education sector and discuss their inherent strengths and weaknesses in light of Dubai’s labor market needs. Our findings reveal that the UAE higher education sector has witnessed an impressive growth since 1997 mostly led by a vigorous expansion of the private higher education sector. This situation led to a substantial growth in higher education opportunities for the UAE population. However, the lack of development of graduate studies and the lower quality of graduates, as perceived by both employees and employers, represent the main challenges to the capacity of the sector in fulfilling the needs of Dubai’s economy.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of internationalization of higher education (HE) in the United Arab Emirates by examining the development of its HE system, and analyzing the components and results of internationalization.

The study adopts a qualitative research methodology to analyze primary evidence from interviews with academics in the UAE, and uses documents and archival research as secondary evidence to provide a comprehensive view of the UAE’s internationalized HE sector. A review of the literature is undertaken to inform discussion and analysis which focuses on the internal and external environments of the UAE. A strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis identifies the benefits and challenges for the UAE of internationalized HE.

The study finds that internationalization of HE in the UAE has grown rapidly in the last decade, and that the UAE has sought to establish and promote itself as an “education hub” in the Middle East. However, this may subsume the government’s parallel goal of educating its citizenry to the level of skills necessitated by globalization. Three major forces promoting internationalization in the UAE are neoliberalism, quality assurance, and imported internationalization, an approach seeks the prestige conferred by international accreditation that is predominant in the UAE as well as other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states. An area of concern is the governance of systems to ensure high quality for universities that may be state-owned, privately owned, or international branch campuses. The study concludes that regional integration could provide the way forward for these countries in their internationalization efforts, not by standardizing but by better formulating study programs across the range of state, private and international higher education institutions.

The study has important implications for HE policy and governance in the development of internationalized HE in the UAE. It provides theoretical perspectives with practical implications, focusing on some of the critical issues in this developing field for HE administrators and practitioners alike. It also has implications for the UAE’s national social values and cultural identity. This may be a reflection of the UAE’s relatively recent unification as a state whose HE system, developed to skill its population, has been overtaken by the imperative to compete in a globalized world. The research is limited by the absence of longitudinal data to review longer-term outcomes.

The UAE, like other GCC countries, is striving to take its higher educational system to a higher level of performance. This study can be considered as one of the very few studies in the area of the internationalization of HE in the UAE. It contributes to the HE literature by identifying factors and circumstances that facilitate, and hinder, the development of internationalization of HE in the UAE. Globalization can be considered as one of the history’s most significant social processes, and the HE sector plays a vital role in the delivery of knowledge and skills to societies, and thus its socio-economic development.

The development of teaching public relations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an important topic to uncover because it is related to and to some extent parallel with the development of the UAE and its vital sectors. The purpose of the study is determine the circumstances of the emergence of teaching public relations in the UAE, to investigate public relations education offered in the UAE universities, to discuss the development of public relations education including challenges and opportunities.

The authors conducted 12 semistructured interviews with public relations educators in the UAE universities to understand the importance, development and current status of public relations and education.

The finding indicates a lot of developments took place in the establishment of public relations programs and its professionalization within a short time span, but more empirical research is needed to address the issues that have been brought up in the study.

The current research looked at the undergraduate public relations programs, but the status of graduate programs in communication and public relations needs to be investigated. More research in academic field is needed to discuss how the development of the public relations education influenced the public relations practice in UAE.

There is not much research done specifically on the public relations education in the UAE. The study sheds light on understanding the perspective of public relations educators on public relations programs and provides insights on how public relations education can be integrated to the local context without losing the global perspective.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a concept is applicable in public service institutions, where responsibility means that the organization is capable of partaking and carving a solution toward urgent social needs. Universities are institutions in which social responsibility emerges not only because of their fundamental mission in the dissemination of knowledge, training, and creation, but also of the enormous challenges they face being a part of a greater society. A university is created to serve its society by graduating people who can contribute to its social and economic development. In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in the number of private universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The academic and professional programs offered by local universities have been developed to follow the revenue-generating practices that are widely used in other different regions of the world. The country has also seen a growing interest in CSR. The chapter investigates the CSR-related evidence as envisaged in UAE and further emphasizes the four levels of responsibilities, namely, academic responsibility, social responsibility, responsibility toward disadvantaged groups, and environmental responsibility, that we can see essential.

This paper explores the impact of interior design education and its effectiveness in the work environment for women in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as they are the primary recipients of interior design programs. The analysis focuses on the role of women in interior design in the Gulf countries and the update of an interior design program curriculum as part of the continuous development program requested by the UAE Commission of Academic Accreditation (CAA) of the national Ministry of Education (MoE).

The research adopts different methodologies: an academic annual effectiveness report (AER), requirements of relevant international and regional accreditation bodies and a double round of surveys and interviews with female students, alumni, instructors and professionals.

The article collects and compares data from different perspectives, from the academic to the professional point of view, discussing challenges and opportunities for female students in contemporary interior design in the UAE. After collecting the necessary feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the bachelor’s program, a set of informed recommendations has been developed, approved and introduced during the academic year 2022/2023. At the end of the year, a second feedback from faculty and external reviewers was gathered and analyzed, providing preliminary insights into the effectiveness of the curricular revisions and highlighting the significant benefits for the female students.

The paper discusses the comprehensive and up-to-date combination of traditional elements, innovative approaches and sustainable practices, alongside the strategic planning of the United Arab Emirates, proposed to enhance female learning experiences while reinforcing their skills and competencies for their future careers.

The aim of this study is to assess the managerial practices in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) higher education sector through the lens of “new managerialism”.

An extensive review of new managerialism literature in higher education was conducted to develop a structured survey questionnaire. Using 176 useable responses obtained from the country-wide survey of academic staff, the underlying factor structure of new managerialism was first established using exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and then ANOVA was carried out to check whether there existed any difference in the six factors as well as for the individual items within each factor across the three types of Universities in the UAE, namely public universities, private-local owned universities and private-foreign owned universities.

The study unearthed a six-factor framework (monitoring and evaluation, transparency, bureaucracy, stakeholder engagement, research productivity and academic freedom and flexibility) of new managerialism comprising of 20 managerial practices. Of the six factors, significant difference was found for bureaucracy, stakeholder engagement and academic freedom and flexibility across different types of universities.

In terms of novelty, the study is the first attempt to explore new managerialism in higher education in the Middle Eastern context.

In recent years, interest in educational issues in the Muslim world has grown rapidly. This interest runs parallel with a media-led exploration of all things Muslim and the ideas that are fundamental to the tenets of Islam. This trend in examining the educational issues that exist in countries that are predominantly Islamic in history, culture, and belief, is part of a wider awareness of the educational elements of a globalized system of commerce, communication, education, and modernization. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has embraced many facets of globalization, striving to become a regional power and a new financial and commercial hub in the Middle East and a high-tech center in a globally oriented society. Along with other Arab nations, the UAE has recognized the strategic role played by education in national development and modernization.