DUBAI // Michigan State University's Dubai campus will double the number of courses it offers this autumn as it tries to find its feet more than two years after being forced to all but shut down.
In July 2010, the university, based at Dubai International Academic City, shut its undergraduate courses after finding the project unsustainable.
Not enough students enrolled to make the costly branch campus project financially viable, forcing about 100 students to either move to its home campus in the US or apply to other universities in the UAE.
But it has been steadily rebuilding. Last year, it launched two master's degrees - in human resources management and labour relations and in public health.
This autumn, it will launch two master's degrees in law - a master of law (LLM) for those who already have a degree in law, as well as a master's of jurisprudence (MJ), for those who do not.
"MSU is really starting to build up," said Dr Tessa Dunseath, its executive director. "These courses will really be one of our big building blocks. People are starting to realise we're still here."
And she hopes its existing courses will grow, too, from 15 last year to 20 in the coming term.
"Next year, we may have to have another intake to keep the programmes small but accommodate the demand," she said.
"After 20, you can't give your students what they want and it's not what they're paying for either."
She insists the university's reputation remains strong despite the collapse of the undergraduate section.
"MSU is toughing it out," she said, "and it's paying off. Its reputation hasn't suffered.
"People are very attracted by the fact that MSU is in the world's top 100 universities. At undergraduate level you can do quantity but we're doing quality, which is necessary for the courses we're offering. You need guidance and counselling."
And the university is branching out to provide more services to the community, from health seminars to professional training. In January, it will host an international conference on higher education.
"Never say never to doing undergraduate operations again, but we're responding to the market and this is what's good for the market we're in," Dr Dunseath said.
Dr Michael Lawrence, associate dean for graduate and international programmes, will be among those teaching on the two-year law degree.
He and other academics will fly over from the US every six weeks or so to deliver intensive, three-to-five-day courses. He believes it will fill a gap in the market.
"It responds to a previously unmet market need for business professionals and others who may benefit from a greater understanding of the United States and international legal system," he said. "Many individuals and businesses within the UAE region who are either engaged in doing business with US firms, or would like to begin doing business, would greatly benefit from gaining a broad understanding of the legal issues involved in these relationships."
Dr Ayoub Kazim, managing director of Dubai International Academic City and Knowledge Village, said the course met local needs: "The UAE is home to a number of US-headquartered companies. It therefore becomes imperative to have ... a solid understanding of the American legal system."
There has already been plenty of interest from students in the region who have previously had to travel to the US for such a qualification. "Now, however, individuals from the UAE region will be able to study in the same programme that is offered in the US," he said.
Margaret Cole, a partner at White & Case LLP in Abu Dhabi, said the LLM course would be a welcome addition to those now available, which focus mainly on UAE or civil law.
"I think the course should do a couple of things," she said. "Firstly, to give students who may not have a common law background exposure to common law principles, which is very important. Also, to give students exposure to the type of courses they may not have been able to access in undergraduate degrees, that will be particularly relevant for them in terms of practising.
"In an international firm, the types of transactions they will most likely come in contact with will be governed typically by New York law or English law - which is common law as opposed to civil law jurisdiction. So it's useful for students to have the exposure to those civil law concepts."
mswan@thenational.ae
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
PROFILE OF INVYGO
Started: 2018
Founders: Eslam Hussein and Pulkit Ganjoo
Based: Dubai
Sector: Transport
Size: 9 employees
Investment: $1,275,000
Investors: Class 5 Global, Equitrust, Gulf Islamic Investments, Kairos K50 and William Zeqiri
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
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Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
It Was Just an Accident
Director: Jafar Panahi
Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr
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Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
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Three-day coronation
Royal purification
The entire coronation ceremony extends over three days from May 4-6, but Saturday is the one to watch. At the time of 10:09am the royal purification ceremony begins. Wearing a white robe, the king will enter a pavilion at the Grand Palace, where he will be doused in sacred water from five rivers and four ponds in Thailand. In the distant past water was collected from specific rivers in India, reflecting the influential blend of Hindu and Buddhist cosmology on the coronation. Hindu Brahmins and the country's most senior Buddhist monks will be present. Coronation practices can be traced back thousands of years to ancient India.
The crown
Not long after royal purification rites, the king proceeds to the Baisal Daksin Throne Hall where he receives sacred water from eight directions. Symbolically that means he has received legitimacy from all directions of the kingdom. He ascends the Bhadrapitha Throne, where in regal robes he sits under a Nine-Tiered Umbrella of State. Brahmins will hand the monarch the royal regalia, including a wooden sceptre inlaid with gold, a precious stone-encrusted sword believed to have been found in a lake in northern Cambodia, slippers, and a whisk made from yak's hair.
The Great Crown of Victory is the centrepiece. Tiered, gold and weighing 7.3 kilograms, it has a diamond from India at the top. Vajiralongkorn will personally place the crown on his own head and then issues his first royal command.
The audience
On Saturday afternoon, the newly-crowned king is set to grant a "grand audience" to members of the royal family, the privy council, the cabinet and senior officials. Two hours later the king will visit the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, the most sacred space in Thailand, which on normal days is thronged with tourists. He then symbolically moves into the Royal Residence.
The procession
The main element of Sunday's ceremonies, streets across Bangkok's historic heart have been blocked off in preparation for this moment. The king will sit on a royal palanquin carried by soldiers dressed in colourful traditional garb. A 21-gun salute will start the procession. Some 200,000 people are expected to line the seven-kilometre route around the city.
Meet the people
On the last day of the ceremony Rama X will appear on the balcony of Suddhaisavarya Prasad Hall in the Grand Palace at 4:30pm "to receive the good wishes of the people". An hour later, diplomats will be given an audience at the Grand Palace. This is the only time during the ceremony that representatives of foreign governments will greet the king.
Dhadak
Director: Shashank Khaitan
Starring: Janhvi Kapoor, Ishaan Khattar, Ashutosh Rana
Stars: 3
Meydan race card
6.30pm: Baniyas (PA) Group 2 Dh125,000 (Dirt) 1,400m
7.05pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,200m​​​​​​​
7.40pm: Maiden (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m​​​​​​​
8.15pm: Handicap (TB) Dh170,000 (D) 1,900m​​​​​​​
8.50pm: Rated Conditions (TB) Dh240,000 (D) 1,600m​​​​​​​
9.25pm: Handicap (TB) Dh175,000 (D)1,200m
10pm: Handicap (TB) Dh165,000 (D) 1,400m
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Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
COMPANY PROFILE
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Core42
Current number of staff: 47
MATCH INFO
Manchester United 1 (Fernandes pen 2') Tottenham Hotspur 6 (Ndombele 4', Son 7' & 37' Kane (30' & pen 79, Aurier 51')
Man of the match Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
Company%20profile
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Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
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