RIT Dubai To Construct New Campus
by Kasey Mathews | published Mar. 2nd, 2018
In January, it was announced that a new campus had just been approved for construction at RIT Dubai. This relocation will open many new opportunities for both local Dubai students as well as those looking to study there in the future.
According to Jim Myers, the associate provost of International Education and Global Programs, RIT has always looked to have a larger presence in Dubai.
“From the very beginning of our involvement in Dubai we aspired to have a fully developed residential campus there,” Myers said.
While these initial plans were met with excitement, the financial crisis of 2008 rolled back those plans, resulting in the current, smaller campus.
Obstacles to Past Construction
One of the largest hindrances to any expansion is lack of funding. A newer, larger campus requires a significant investment, as evidenced when the main RIT campus moved from downtown in the 1960s to its current Henrietta location. The Emirati government had always been a large source of potential funding; however, RIT had also previously been responsible in some part for the financing of any construction. In order to validate funding from RIT’s viewpoint and further expand the facilities available to RIT Dubai, the campus had to prove that there was a growth in enrollment. As Myers explained, this left RIT Dubai in a tight situation.
“In the beginning years, it didn’t make sense,” Myers stated, referring to the years following the initial construction of the campus. Unlike the Rochester campus, there weren’t enough students that required housing and facilities in Dubai
“We were only offering graduate programs and we had fairly small numbers of students," Myers explained. "Then we got to the point where we started offering undergraduate programs where we were kind of in a Catch-22. We couldn’t grow the undergraduate enrollment without making a bigger commitment to the campus and, at the same time, we couldn’t commit to the campus until we had a certain level of undergraduate enrollment.”
This is the predicament RIT Dubai had found itself in for the past few years. Unexpectedly, the United Arab Emirates stepped in, promising to fund the entire $136 million project.
“We’ve always had aspirations [to expand] but this is the first time, I think, where we’ve been to the point where we have a plan and a commitment from [the UAE] to support it.” Myers continued.
While talks of expansion had resumed about two years ago, the speed at which these most recent plans had accelerated surprised the entire administration.
“That announcement that came out from [RIT Dubai] was, even for us, a bit of a surprise,” Myers said.
Plans for the Campus
The new campus won’t be far from its current location. Dr. Yousef Al-Assaf, president of RIT Dubai noted that it will remain within the Dubai Silicon Oasis, a free-trade zone within the city of Dubai. It will be in a more centralized location along the Innovation Crescent, however. This places the campus in a central hub of business and technological activity, and provides many nearby resources for those on campus.
“The new facility is to be a state-of-the-art campus that provides a collaborative teaching and research environment designed to support current and future pedagogues and technologies,” said Al-Assaf.
“The new facility is to be a state-of-the-art campus that provides a collaborative teaching and research environment designed to support current and future pedagogues and technologies,” said Al-Assaf.
Dr. Jeremy Haefner, RIT provost and senior vice president for Academic Affairs, emphasized the stark contrast the new campus will have against the current iteration.
“The hosts of our campus, the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority (DSOA), has been very gracious in accommodating the needs of our students for not just academic purposes but also for co-curricular purposes, like athletic fields and facilities,” Haefner stated. “But they still occupy a four-story building and it doesn’t give the students a sense of the traditional kind of American campus.”
Presently, Haefner pointed out, RIT Dubai occupies only a single building, though even this is growth from the single story originally owned by RIT. This means all facilities, offices and resources must fit into a single building, leaving little room for the standard campus life one comes to expect from RIT.
The upcoming campus, however, will transform RIT Dubai into a more traditional college campus, featuring designated academic buildings, administrative buildings and residence halls, with landscaped courtyards in between. At the very center of campus will be a large building dedicated to student-led projects, promising to promote entrepreneurship and innovation.
According to Al-Assaf, there will be plenty of recreational space as well. The campus will feature an auditorium, study spaces, dining commons, a café, library, radio station and fitness center, among other amenities. Upon full completion in 2023, the new campus will be capable of hosting approximately 4,000 students. However, a preliminary opening is scheduled to occur in 2019, with a projected capacity of 1,200, including any RIT students from other campuses who choose to study there.
Al-Assaf hopes to add a replica of MAGIC Spell Studios as well as an astronomical observatory to campus in the future, though neither of these are currently in the agreed upon plans. He isn’t giving up hope, however, and continues to look toward their eventual inclusion.
“These are really visionary leaders that are trying to create a place where people from around the world would be attracted to come learn.”
“It’s really been a wonderful team effort; we really value our partners in the UAE,” Myers stated. “These are really visionary leaders that are trying to create a place where people from around the world would be attracted to come learn.”
Myers, Haefner and Al-Assaf each expressed anticipation at the promise of new opportunities for both Dubai students as well as other RIT students looking to study abroad at that location.