Abu Dhabi University offers five scholarship grants to UAE students

To help students in the UAE with limited financial resources pursue higher education studies, Abu Dhabi University (ADU) is offering five scholarship programs and financial aid packages.

According to Dr. Nabil Ibrahim, ADU Chancellor, the university has already disbursed over AED54 million in financial aid, discounts and scholarships (FDS) since 2004. A total of 3,973 students, or 29 per cent of the total ADU student body, have benefited from these funds at an average AED13,679 per student.

“These five, four-year scholarship programs, known as the H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Scholarship and the Chairman’s Scholarship cover 100 percent of each student’s tuition and fees and are awarded to students who can demonstrate outstanding academic records and excellent personal traits,” says Dr. Ibrahim. “We are also providing a family tuition discount to students from the same family where, for every one student enrolled simultaneously at ADU, other additional family members will receive tuition discount.

“The University Scholarship is offered to first year students who graduated from secondary school with a high level of academic distinction, and is awarded automatically to all candidates who meet the specified criteria including completion of the university’s English proficiency test,” he added.

Secondary school graduates with an average of 95 per cent – 100 per cent will receive up to 30 per cent tuition scholarships, while those with averages of 90 per cent - 94.99 per cent will receive up to 20 per cent tuition scholarships.

Other scholarship programs include the Academic Scholarship, which is available to continuing students who maintain a high level of academic distinction. It offers students a 20 percent discount on tuition fees and is also given automatically to all candidates who meet the specified criteria. Eligible students must maintain, for two consecutive semesters, a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.7 with at least 12 credits per semester. Meanwhile, applicants with outstanding athletic skills are offered up to 25 per cent discount on their tuition fees through the Athletic Scholarship.

From these scholarship programs, three represented 67 per cent of the total FDS budget, namely: Sanabil, the University Scholarship, and the Family Discount, comprising 35 per cent, 16 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. The average spending per year on FDS programs amounted to AED6,793,570 and since inception, AED18,926,280 was spent on financial aid, AED11,750,692 on discounts, and AED23,671,583 on scholarships.