The guide

Abu Dhabi

UAE · Middle East & Türkiye

The capital, and the country's research and energy centre — government bodies, sovereign funds and the two universities that admit internationally with real money behind them.

Who this suits, and who it doesn’t

Suits you if you want a funded undergraduate degree in English near home, or research and engineering tied to energy, space and the state sector. Look elsewhere if you want a large private job market, startup density or nightlife — that is Dubai, an hour and a half up the road.

The catch, and the way in

The catch

Quieter, more spread out and more conservative than Dubai, with a much smaller private job market: outside the state-linked sector and the universities, the openings are in Dubai and people commute or move.

The way in

New York University Abu Dhabi admits internationally with need-based aid that can cover the full cost, which makes it one of the most generous undergraduate doors anywhere; Khalifa University funds science and engineering students directly. Compass models UAE admissions already.

Living there

What living here is actually like

Flatter, calmer and more residential than Dubai, built around wide roads and the car rather than around a skyline. The summer is as severe and the indoor life is the same, but the pace is slower and the population less transient, because so much of it works for institutions rather than for companies that come and go. The island layout means distances are real and a car is close to necessary.

How the money works

The same untaxed income and the same employer-tied residence as Dubai, with rents that sit somewhat below it and a shorter list of ways to spend money. The difference that matters for a student is the funding: aid at NYU Abu Dhabi is need-based rather than merit-priced, so the cost of the degree is assessed against what your family can actually pay — which is a fundamentally different proposition from a discount.Described in shape rather than figures on purpose: rents and salaries move every year and we cannot keep numbers true, but what is expensive and what quietly eats income stays true for far longer.

The language you actually need

The universities and the professional world run in English. Arabic carries more weight here than in Dubai because so much of the work is government-facing, and it is the difference between a job in the sector and a job adjacent to it.

The work that clusters here

Fields with a real market in this city

Engineering · Natural Sciences · Business & Economics · Medicine & Health

Who is named here

Not a ranking and not in order of merit — the places a subject is actually studied and taught at in this city, so you have something to search for.

Khalifa University
- Engineering
- Computer Science
- Natural Sciences
Degrees taught in English
New York University Abu Dhabi
- Humanities & Social Sciences
- Natural Sciences
- Engineering
- Business & Economics
Degrees taught in English

Language of teaching moves within a cycle — check it on the university’s own page for your own entry year.