UAE's universities offer scholarships, fee reduction amid coronavirus

Imran Mojib, Special Correspondent

To help people plan for a brighter, post-Covid-19 future, leading universities in the UAE are offering significant reduction on course fees as well as scholarships to outstanding students.

The Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi has announced Academic Scholarships to new students with excellent academic records while Canadian University Dubai is offering a 30 per cent reduction on course fees for Fall 2020.

Vice-Chancellor of Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi Professor Silvia Serrano said, “Given that financial instability is a challenge, our goal is to make education accessible to the undergraduate students with outstanding academic performance and to motivate them to continue their proven academic excellence.”

The university will bestow academic scholarship to new students with excellent academic records and fitted with qualifications set by the university.

New students joining the institution to pursue undergraduate studies will be qualified with 15 per cent scholarship on their tuition fees for the first semester granting they have outstanding academic results in high school and have met the criteria assigned by the university.

In the second semester, if they managed maintaining their outstanding academic results, scholars are eligible to a 25 per cent up to 75 per cent of academic excellence scholarship. The scholarship scheme is progressive, granted semester by semester, and depends on the academic performance of the students.

On the other hand, both new and returning students across Canadian University Dubai’s all undergraduate and graduate programmes can avail the 30 per cent course fee reduction alongside the university’s wide variety of scholarships.

Redeeming these at the same time could provide qualified students with up to 60 per cent discount on their studies, proving there has never been a better time to invest in education and future career opportunities.

Buti Saeed Al Ghandi, Chancellor of the university, said, “We are trying to be as flexible as possible and offer our students as many different opportunities in education as we can during these unprecedented times.”

Dr. Karim Chelli, President and Vice-Chancellor of the university, said, “Although it is hard to plan ahead, investing in your future and in furthering your education will always be a wise choice, which we hope will now be accessible to more students in Dubai with our discounted course fees.”