The COVID-19 pandemic has presented an opportunity to rethink higher education. This study focused on analysing experiences from three higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since the onset of the crisis and explored how university leaders and professors in these institutions imagine post-COVID-19 higher education. The study aimed to find out whether the pandemic has been a factor that has helped to legitimize online teaching and learning as a universal mode of delivery across different fields of studies, or if the Zoom fatigue has shown its limitations. In addition, the research investigated what transformations university experts predict and their vision for the future of higher education. The study found that many lessons learnt during the period of forced adoption of distance education will be used by universities to enhance and expand online learning provisions. This shift will be driven by the investments the universities have made in distance education and the increased familiarity of the students, staff and institutions with e-learning. The study participants foresee that more sophisticated forms of hybrid campuses will be a more appropriate model for the future, if face-to-face (F2F) classrooms do not return.

Since 1997, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has invested in higher education and its expansion as part of its commitment to building a knowledge-based society. Though the UAE has prioritised quality higher education, it still faces challenges in producing graduates who are capable of actively participating in building its knowledge base. The literature reveals a clear mismatch between the qualities of university graduates and continually changing labour market needs. Along with demographic challenges, cultural and institutional factors impede progress. This paper discusses these challenges and offers policy recommendations designed to support the UAE in its goal of Emiratisising its workforce and creating a knowledge-based society.

Higher education institutions have a critical role to play in preparing students to meet the demands of an increasingly technological world. Drawing on a survey of 762 undergraduate students in two universities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this paper examines the actual experiences of digital technology of students during their academic studies while seeking to develop a better understanding of the realities that the students encounter when using technology inside and outside their classrooms. The study also investigates what students really need to enhance their learning. The collected data confirm the international research findings that the digital age is not ‘transforming’ the nature of university. Additionally, traditional teaching methods and conventional ‘in-the-box’ student thinking and practices with technology still prevail. Bearing in mind the particularities of students in the UAE context, blending technology with the formal in-person approach can produce significant benefits in relation to effectively improving student learning and success.

The paper examines the inherent strengths and weaknesses of the higher education system in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Using a literature review, three elements were examined: its development and structure, quality, and research capacity. The findings reveal that the UAE’s higher education sector has witnessed remarkable growth since 1997, guided by the state’s policy commitment, and few restrictions on foreign universities opening branches in the UAE. This situation has led to substantial growth in the supply of higher education opportunities for the Emirati and expatriate population. Despite the UAE having achieved a high ranking for ‘quality indicators’ on the global level in the World Economic Forum’s Competitiveness Reports, the quality of graduates, education, and research engagement is still debatable. Significant efforts are needed to ensure that these critical issues, as well as the understudied expansion of higher education institutions, are being addressed to erase the misalignment with the UAE’s strategic goals.

The higher education ecosystem has been impacted significantly by the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), creating uncertainty regarding the future of higher education (HE). The coronavirus has compounded the challenges the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is facing in actively producing knowledge capital. This article collects evidence from current scholarly literature regarding the newly emerging skills and jobs needed for building aknowledge society in the UAE. This article explores how higher education in the UAE has transformed its role and its modes of delivery in response to the coronavirus pandemic and, additionally, offers recommendations for how to address these challenges while moving towards aknowledge society. The recommendations coming out of this study are multifaceted, along three main lines:1) maximising the research potential of the UAE’s HEIs by building partnerships between public and private sectors; 2) embracing technology in higher education;3) customising curricula, course delivery, and assessment by adopting online education models; and4) making lifelong learning accessible and affordable for all citizens. By cultivating institutions that are responsive to the changing needs of the labour market, the UAE and its citizens are poised to come out of the pandemic with atransformed higher education system.

Purpose: Theoretical models of attrition have failed to address the interwoven factors from the perspective of undergraduate students that influence their decision to drop out. The purpose of this paper is to unravel these complexities using a qualitative phenomenological approach to gain systematic descriptions of the experience of non-completion.Design/methodology/approach: Tinto’s (2004) and Bean and Metzner’s (1985) models serve as the theoretical construct for the study’s design and analysis. In-depth interviews were conducted with 41 students who discontinued studies at universities in the United Arab Emirates, to understand the situations that led them to drop out of university and how they experienced this event in their lives.Findings: Several issues were identified as contributing factors for dropping out that are consistent with those found in the international literature. Additional issues were more gender or culture specific and, to some extent, represented the differences that signal a social development that is in a transitional stage. The findings revealed that institutional factors, poor pre-college preparation, environmental factors (work-education conflict), early marriage responsibilities, well-paid job opportunities and financial concerns were most influential.Research limitations/implications: Despite the limitations of relying on a small sample to generalize findings, the rich detail of this inductive study has added to the understanding of the dropout phenomenon in a new context.Practical implications: The paper recommends both remedial and early intervention strategies to be undertaken by the Ministry of Education and universities. Remedial strategies include re-examining the desired standard of English as a condition for admission and adjusting the grading system. Early intervention measures that accommodate the needs of at-risk students are also proposed. At local, regional and international levels, higher education should be freed from commodification and inflated fees.Originality/value: The paper presents a significant departure from the largely North American and European literature on the university dropout, by offering a broader knowledge of this phenomenon in another regional and national context.