The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research said more than 64,000 students were admitted and enrolled during the academic year, including about 32,000 Emiratis. Overall enrolment exceeded 218,000, of whom approximately 124,000 were Emirati students.
Dr Ahmad Sultan Al Shoaibi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, said the figures reflected policies intended to expand access while maintaining academic standards and ensuring graduates acquire skills aligned with labour market needs.
The expansion has also been visible outside traditional degree programmes. Enrolment in diploma and higher diploma courses increased from 3,995 students in the 2021–2022 academic year to 10,926 in 2025–2026, a rise of 173 per cent. The ministry said the growth was broadening the range of educational pathways available to students and providing qualifications geared towards employment.
Admission reforms have shifted greater responsibility to higher education institutions to determine requirements according to the nature, level and demands of individual programmes. Rather than applying a single standardised minimum requirement across every institution and specialisation, universities can establish criteria that reflect the preparation needed for particular courses.
Al Shoaibi said that flexibility was part of a governance model linking institutional autonomy with accountability for academic outcomes. Universities remain responsible for ensuring their admission rules are appropriate for their programmes, while their performance is monitored through an outcomes-based assessment framework.
The ministry stressed that greater discretion over admissions did not amount to lowering quality requirements. Institutions remain subject to governance, oversight and evaluation, and authorities can intervene where admission practices are found to affect educational standards or the quality of graduates.
Ministerial Resolution No. 19 of 2024 requires higher education institutions to establish clear admission criteria for their programmes. It also permits conditional admission where students successfully complete preparatory or remedial courses designed to address gaps in academic skills.
The framework also allows diploma, higher diploma and partial-qualification pathways according to students’ abilities and educational routes. Officials say the approach is intended to give applicants more ways into higher education without replacing academic controls with unrestricted entry.
The ministry said institutions do not need prior approval for every individual change to an admission criterion, but that does not remove regulatory supervision. Compliance is checked through academic accreditation renewals, periodic monitoring and inspection visits, as well as continuing assessment of admission practices and educational outcomes.
That approach marks a move away from relying mainly on procedural approval before institutions make admissions decisions towards continuous accountability for the results of those decisions. Authorities assess indicators extending beyond entry requirements, including student retention and completion, employment outcomes and the alignment of graduate skills with economic needs.
The latest figures build on growth recorded in the preceding academic year. Ministry data released in 2025 showed that 66 institutions reporting enrolment information admitted 57,035 new students in 2024–2025, 13 per cent more than a year earlier. Female students accounted for 54 per cent of that intake, with 30,756 new enrolments, while 26,281 male students enrolled.
Officials attributed that increase partly to streamlined procedures, digital services and the National Unified Registration System, alongside changes introduced to admission criteria in 2024. The unified system has been expanded to cover more institutions and is designed to simplify registration and strengthen coordination between universities and the ministry.
The ministry also operates real-time data links with higher education institutions, allowing it to track admission and enrolment indicators and monitor how universities manage entry processes under national legislation and approved frameworks.
The UAE’s higher education ecosystem comprises 103 institutions offering about 2,500 academic programmes and supported by 10,633 faculty members, according to figures announced at the start of the 2026–2027 academic year. Universities graduated 31,061 students during 2024–2025.
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