The UAE holds two different systems side by side. Khalifa University and MBZUAI fund graduate students properly: tuition waived, monthly stipend, accommodation support, because they are building research output. The international branch campuses in Dubai are fee-paying and behave like their parent universities abroad.
Knowing which type you are applying to changes everything about the application, the documents and the realistic cost.
At a glance
| Language | English throughout |
|---|---|
| Tuition | Funded universities: waived with a stipend. Branch campuses: roughly AED 60,000–120,000 a year |
| Stipend | Khalifa and MBZUAI pay a monthly stipend with housing support for full-time graduate students |
| Main intakes | Autumn (August–September), with spring entry at several universities |
| Where you apply | Directly to the university |
| After graduation | 2-year job-seeker options, Golden Visa for top graduates |
What they require
- Bachelor's with a strong GPA, typically 3.0/4.0 and above; 3.2+ for funded research places
- IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL iBT 91 at the research universities
- GRE required or strongly preferred at Khalifa and MBZUAI for many programmes
- Statement of purpose and research interests
- Two or three references
How admission actually works
Committee review with faculty input, and interviews for funded places. Attestation of documents by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs is part of enrolment, not just the visa.
Branch campuses follow their home-country admission rules, so a Dubai campus of a UK or Australian university runs on that country's conventions.
How much does a supervisor matter?
Important for PhD and funded master's.
At Khalifa and MBZUAI, a faculty member who wants you can attach you to a funded project. Write with a specific research interest and your CV; both universities publish lab pages that make matching straightforward.
When applications open and close
The pattern below is what these systems normally do. Every programme sets its own dates, so treat this as the planning shape and confirm on the official portal linked at the end.
Funding that genuinely exists here
Tuition, monthly stipend, health insurance and accommodation for AI-focused master's and PhD students.
Tuition waiver plus stipend for research master's and PhD candidates.
Partial and full awards, varying by faculty.
Common route for professionals already in the Gulf and worth asking about directly.
Documents this country asks for
- Attested degree certificate and transcripts, through your ministry of foreign affairs and the UAE mission
- Statement of purpose with a research direction
- GRE and English test scores where required
- Two or three references
- Passport copy and photographs; the university sponsors the residence visa
Visa and permit
The university sponsors a student residence visa after admission, including a medical test and Emirates ID registration inside the country. Degree attestation is the long pole: start it as soon as you are admitted, not after arrival.
After you graduate
2-year job-seeker options, Golden Visa for top graduates
Graduates can use the job-exploration entry permit, and outstanding graduates from accredited universities may qualify for a long-term Golden Visa. Otherwise employment is employer-sponsored.
What they favour
- Quantitative strength and research output for the funded universities
- A clear specialisation matching a named lab
- Applicants who plan to stay through the programme rather than treating it as a transit stop
- Complete attested paperwork
Where applications fail
- Confusing a fee-paying branch campus with a funded research university
- Skipping the GRE where it is genuinely required
- Leaving attestation until after enrolment
- Applying after the scholarship round even though admission is still open
Official sources
Rules and dates change, sometimes mid-cycle. These are the pages that carry the authoritative version; if anything here disagrees with them, they are right. Reviewed September 2026.