New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

University highlight as provided by NYU Abu Dhabi, and featured in the Undergraduate Newsletter, Summer-Fall 2011 issue (available here).

New York University Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

New York University has designed a visionary new model for higher education at the crossroads of the world—NYU Abu Dhabi—combining the best of a research university education with the advantages of a liberal arts, sciences, and engineering curriculum. Are you interested in becoming part of the next generation of leaders dedicated to the creation of new knowledge? Do you have a global citizen's outlook, a leader's purposefulness, and an understanding that the future is for the bold, not the conventional?

NYU Abu Dhabi has an unblinking commitment to select the most accomplished and promising students around the globe to be part of this unprecedented endeavor in higher education. NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU's Washington Square campus in New York City form the backbone of a fully interconnected Global Network University. As one of its two major portal campuses, NYU Abu Dhabi establishes a powerful environment for faculty and students to access the NYU global network and contributes to the ambitious trajectory of Abu Dhabi as an entrepreneurial capital of ideas and talents.

NYU Abu Dhabi is deeply rooted in the history of NYU and it is also writing the University's next chapter. NYU Abu Dhabi is only the newest addition to one of the foremost research and teaching universities in the United States. Since New York University's founding in 1831, its academic excellence has been rooted in and strengthened by the energy and diversity of New York City, and so it continues across the globe.

Through both portal campuses and its network of global academic centers, NYU offers its undergraduates an exceptional liberal arts curriculum; dynamic learning and mentoring experiences with a renowned, award-winning faculty; fellowship with a diverse and enthusiastic student body; and ongoing interaction with the intellectual and cultural life of our local communities.

NYU Abu Dhabi is the logical next step in NYU's long-term endeavor to expand opportunities for its students worldwide, but it is the University's tradition of excellence that lent its leaders the courage to develop a new paradigm: the university as a dynamic global network.

The Cosmopolitan City
A city of 1.2 million, Abu Dhabi is located in the heart of the Middle East on the southern coast of the Arabian Gulf. It's the capital of both the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. International residents from 120 countries make up 80 percent of the population and join the Emirati citizens who trace their history back to the settling of Abu Dhabi in 1760. You'll hear English, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Farsi, Tagalog, and French spoken as often as Arabic in this global crossroads.

Abu Dhabi is at the forefront of building one of the world's next great idea capitals. The city has developed a progressive agenda in health care, the arts, economic and environmental sustainability, educational and human development, and the advancement of women— with impressive resources supporting the vital talent and infrastructure required to both achieve and leverage these advances. Together, this strategic location and forward-looking commitment create a dazzling array of opportunities for learning, research, and innovation. Guided by your NYU Abu Dhabi curriculum and community explorations, you'll be in and of Abu Dhabi as well as in and of the world through extensive regional travel and study away in the NYU Global Network University.

The Campus
The Downtown Campus is located just off the Corniche, the city's prestigious boulevard that faces the waterfront and features parks, jogging and bike paths, restaurants, a boardwalk, and a public beach. The Downtown Campus facilities are tailored to meet the unique requirements of NYU Abu Dhabi programs; the classrooms and library have the newest technology and wireless Internet access throughout.

Your Professors
 In small classes that typically have eight to 12 students, you'll have unparalleled access to your professors, who are not only inspiring teachers but also renowned scholars and caring academic mentors. They'll challenge you to think swiftly on your feet, strengthen your thought processes, formulate profound questions, and write with unfailing persuasion. They'll enable you to be a producer of new knowledge, not just a receiver of existing knowledge. These scholars have joined NYU Abu Dhabi spoecifically because they believe undergraduates are capable of collaborating with them on cutting-edge research—and because they simply love to teach. The relationships you form with your professors will be some of the most important of your life, helping to shape who you are and how you will shape the world.

NYU Abu Dhabi's Students

At NYU Abu Dhabi, you will join a student body that is astoundingly diverse—an unparalleled, broadly international, incredibly sharp, inventive, fun, and adventuresome group of peers. The Class of 2014 is NYU Abu Dhabi's first class of students. These 149 students represent 39 countries of origin and speak a total of 43 languages. Academically, they come from the top of their classes, but they bring with them a remarkable range of achievements from far beyond the classroom. As athletes, they play basketball, cricket, field hockey, rugby, table tennis, and squash. They ride horses, bike BMX, race dragon boats, and practice yoga. They're singers, dancers, harpists, cellists, pianists, and more. NYU Abu Dhabi's student body brings traditions and customs from all over the world to form a truly global community. As an NYU Abu Dhabi student, you will have the opportunity to share your own talents with this extraordinary group. NYU Abu Dhabi Vice Chancellor Al Bloom describes the inaugural class as "the most talented in the world. . . . They bring a remarkable array of interests and experience to a uniquely diverse and exciting undergraduate experience. They are students who engage the examination and shaping of thought with passion and rigor."

The first Romanian student started his exciting NYUAD academic experience this August. Watch for his profile and his inspiring notes in the Spring Newsletter.