The UAE's higher education ministry has revoked the licence and programme accreditation of a private university in Ajman over “severe and repeated” breaches of academic regulations.
The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research said the continued operation of Horizon University College “compromised education quality” and “student rights”.
The ministry said the university was prohibited from conducting any higher education activities. It said it was working with departments and authorities in the emirate to transfer affected students to other higher education institutions.
The ministry has established a dedicated task force to lead a comprehensive student protection plan to oversee these transfers. It urged students and parents to monitor official channels for further updates and guidance.
It said the decision underlined its commitment to “rigorous oversight of the UAE’s higher education ecosystem”.
“By enforcing strict adherence to national standards in collaboration with the relevant local and federal authorities, the ministry continues to protect student interests while upholding the quality, reliability and global competitiveness of the nation's higher education ecosystem,” a ministry statement read.
Raising standards
The tough action taken by the ministry is in line with the UAE's efforts to raise standards in the higher education, safeguard student welfare and clamp down on universities flouting rules.
In December, the ministry withdrew recognition for all qualifications issued by Midocean University in Fujairah.
The decision was made following an inspection which uncovered “fundamental violations” in how the criteria was being adhered to.
“The inspection revealed that the university’s executive office in Fujairah has been offering registration services and conducting educational programmes without obtaining the necessary accreditation from the ministry,” the ministry said in a statement.
The findings of the inspection led to an assessment of the university to determine how well it was complying with approved national standards. Following the evaluation, a decision was made to withdraw recognition for all qualifications issued by the university.
In June 2024, the UAE unveiled plans to introduce regular assessments of universities in the country and to cluster them into groups, based on performance.
The grading system was introduced to boost standards and allow seats of learning in the Emirates to compete internationally.
Both public and private higher education institutions are included in the assessment, with rankings based on factors including teaching quality and student life, employability, scientific research and international collaboration.
Under the new framework, institutions are divided into two categories: research and non-research institutions. They will then be clustered into groups depending on performance – with group one representing the best performing with group four being the lowest.
