Vantaggi
Not. One. Thing. Hopefully prospective applicants will stop at glassdoor first and avoid this farce of a university at all costs.
Svantaggi
The university has completely collapsed in the past few years. Claims that the university’s problems are due to staff shortages from unprecedented growth and faculty discontent stems from expats not understanding the culture are simply lies. Do your research - the previous president went on a rampage and was fired, or rather silently moved to another plush government job. In the aftermath, incompetent administrators continue to literally rip everything apart in an attempt to placate higher powers who obviously don’t know what they want. Administrators, deans, chairs, and managers are mostly unqualified puppets barking orders and have absolutely no understanding how to manage people, let alone run a university. They are now hiring anyone with a pulse so don’t expect anything to get better. The quality of the undergraduates is atrocious; indifferent and ill-prepared students who blatantly cheat and plagiarize. The courses I taught were continually “dumbed down” so everyone could pass. These programs cannot even be compared to real accredited degrees. In fact, they don’t even measure up to high school diplomas. I’m amazed that they’ve been able to hang on to accreditation, but according to all the rumors, seriously doubt they have done so legitimately. Pay and benefits have seriously eroded and have not kept up with the high cost of living in the UAE. Forget savings, especially if you have children, as school fees subsidies no longer cover costs. The tyrannical push for faculty to publish research to improve rankings is comical, especially given that NO support is offered. I was personally embarrassed to affiliate myself with this “university”. Colleagues tended to fly under the radar and managed to do the minimal amount possible out of fear or indifference. Morale is low and the environment is toxic. The human resource department is extremely dysfunctional probably because, like most departments, they can’t keep competent people from leaving.