This is an overview of the university scholarships options available in the UAE, for both graduate and undergraduate programs.
Most, if not all the universities do have a series of grants, scholarship of financial aids (the term varies from one university to the other), but in a nutshell the financial support is available in a different shapes and sizes.
This guide is meant to give you a direction of the available options - we won’t go into detailed requirements because that’s quite extensive - but at least you’ll get a healthy overview to start with.
Below is a quick overview of the available options for for scholarship in the United Arab Emirates, and further below the guide you’ll find a detailed version for each university.
| # | University | # of Scholships | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American University in Sharjah | 12 | 10% - 100% |
| 2 | Ajman University | 20 | 10% - 100% |
| 3 | University of Dubai | 28 | 10% - 60% |
| 4 | American University of Ras Al Khaimah | 4 | 20% - 100% |
| 5 | American University of Dubai | 14 | 5% - 100% |
| 6 | Rochester Institute of Technology | 15 | 5% - 50% |
| 7 | University of Wollongong in Dubai | 9 | 15% - 50% |
Below you'll find a few more details for each university we have on our list, and a link where you can see the scholarship requirements on their websites.
American University in Sharjah (AUS) has separate sections when it comes to scholarship: for graduates (bachelor), as well as for undergraduates (masters).
When it comes to graduates, AUS offers both scholarship and grants.
They’re mostly aiming to help highly qualified undergraduates with limited financial resources. In order to apply, you must have paid the reservation seats.
Other than that, new and first time students might opt for a financial grant, or a merit based scholarship, or even a Family Tuition Grant - these can cover up 75% of the tuition fees.
Scholarships formats available at AUS: merit scholarship, Chancellor's Scholars Award, Sharakah School Scholarships, Dean's List scholarship, Chancellor's List Scholarship, Sheikh Khalifa Scholarship, Active Student Scholarship, Athletic Student Scholarship and Most Outstanding Active Student Scholarship.
And there’s also Grants: Financial Grants, Family Tuition Grant and last, but not least, Study Tour Grant.
When it comes to graduate assistance, the options are evolving into a more mature support - in the sense that AUS offers assistantships and work-study opportunities.
Find our more about application and review procedures, along with Eligibility, and most importantly, Student Employment on their official page for scholarships.
Ajman University have their own Office of Scholarship & Financial Aid (OFSA) which is primarily responsible to provide all the required information and assembling of the financial resources.
The goal of OFSA is to make college possible for students whom otherwise be deprived to access higher education due to several reasons.
Ajman University offers no less than 21 Scholarships and Discounts, ranging from 15%, and going up to cover even 100% in some cases.
The financial aids are offered by both internal, as well as governmental or other private agencies.
They include Scholarships for Ajman Ruler's Court (up to 100%), Discounts for Ajman Local and Federal Departments (20%), Discounts for High school students who obtain a CGPA of 90% or above (20%), Discounts for Top Achievers (up to 20%) and many more.
Find the complete list of scholarship and financial aid on Ajman University's official scholarship page.
University of Dubai has a large variety of scholarships, arranged on 6 different sections, from Special Discounts, up until Merit Based Scholarship and and International Students Scholarship.
To start with, Special Discounts (by far the largest section), has 28 different types of categories; we’ll mention briefly few of them: Students working in Government Sector (10%), People of Determination (20%), GPA of ≥ 3.60 at the end of term (20%) and many more.
Along with that, certain schools that have partnered with University of Dubai can leverage 20% discount on tuition fees.
Also, they offer 4 free courses for international students.
Find all the complete list of scholarships of University of Dubai on their website.
Very wisely put, American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK) wants to dismantle the obstacles between student and her/ his dreams. They offer a series of scholarships to facilitate the entrance at the university, which are of 2 types:
The support an unlimited number of students who meet their criteria, which are to have high school standing higher than 80% and / or CGPA of 3.25 or higher.
Covering both bachelors programs (from 20%, up until 100%) and master’s programs (20%), students of all nationalities can benefit of it.
Detailed information can be found on AURAK's website.
We’ve put together the complete list of scholarships in UAE so you can see you do have plenty of choices, and the present guide hereby is aiming to help you make the right decision.
American University of Dubai (AUD) has scholarships for both undergraduates, and for graduates.
For undergraduates, there are no less than 9 scholarships in Dubai, at AUD - varying from H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Scholarship for Undergraduate Study, to ICT Funds Scholarship for Undergraduate Admissions and Wasl Scholarship.
For graduate programs, there are currently 5 programs available.
While some scholarships are open to all nationalities (H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Scholarship for Undergraduate Study), while others are crafted specifically for Arab nationality, Lebanese nationality, US nationality, UAE Nationals.
Find more information on American University in Dubai's website.
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) offers a series of scholarships in Dubai for both Undergraduate (valid for 1 academic year) and Graduate (valid for 1 semester) students. You can apply once you’re accepted, or at the end of each academic year.
RIT scholarships are agnostic of the nationality.
For Undergraduate programs, they offer scholarships for students based on their high school percentage (Academic Scholarship), field of study (Dean's Scholarship Awarded), athletically talented and a few more. What’s worth mentioning is the Corporate Scholarship - which offers scholarship up to 30% for students associated with certain companies or organizations.
Also, international students from all over the world are eligible for 45% scholarship on their very first year’s tuition fees.
In terms of Graduate scholarships, there are a 6 options; worth mentioning are the options to work alongside professors (Teaching Assistantship, gets you up to 50% scholarship), 30% scholarship for students with an excellent academic records, and an alumni scholarship of 30%.
Find out more information on Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai's website.
University of Wollongong offers 3 types of scholarships and tuition grants for their university in Dubai:
1. scholarships;
2. tuition grants;
3. financial aids.
In terms of scholarships, Undergraduate Scholarships are available for new students and continuing students, and you can apply to several scholarships (as long as you meet the eligibility requirements).
They offer a sport award scholarship as well (Adam Gilchrist Sports Awards).
Tuition grant for undergraduate come in the form of alumni tuition grant and a family tuition grant, while financial aid are designated for students with limited financial resources.
And, of course, the high achiever scholarship - for students who excel in their high school studies.
For Postgraduates, the sholarship ranges between 15% to 25% (living and other study-related expenses are not included). Both Merit and Sport scholarships for PostGraduates are available, along with Family and Alumni tuition grants.
Read more about scholarship on Dubai at University of Wollongong's website.
That’s a wrap of the list of all the scholarships in the United Arab Emirates.
We will continue adding more scholarships to this page, so keep an eye on it.