The United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) — the UAE's premier federal university — officially commenced its UAEU AI Agenda 2025-2031 on October 22, 2024. The launch event brought together senior academics, administrators, and dignitaries to mark a pivotal step in the country's push to make AI central to higher education.
UAEU AI Agenda 2025-2031: What Was Announced
The Artificial Intelligence Agenda 2025-2031 sets out UAEU's commitment to integrating AI across all facets of the institution — teaching, learning, research, and administrative functions. The initiative aligns directly with the UAE Cabinet's recently approved national position on AI policy, reinforcing the country's ambition to be a global leader in artificial intelligence.
Speaking at the launch, His Excellency Zaki Anwar Nusseibeh, Cultural Advisor to the UAE President and Chancellor of UAEU, underscored the significance of the moment:
> "UAEU's initiatives are aligned with the goals of the UAE's Centennial 2071 vision and the National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence."
Nusseibeh also noted that measures such as the UAE's historic appointment of the world's first Minister of AI place the country squarely at the forefront of global AI development.
Four Core Priorities Driving the Agenda
Dr. Fekri Kharbash, Acting Dean of the College of Information Technology, presented an overview of the agenda's four core priorities. All four are aimed at strengthening UAEU's academic and research standing:
1. Enhancing UAEU's role as a comprehensive academic and research institution 2. Fostering an innovative environment grounded in advanced technologies 3. Deploying the latest AI tools across teaching, learning, and research 4. Positioning UAEU as a model for how AI principles can be applied across an entire university
The goal, Kharbash emphasised, is for UAEU to serve as a benchmark institution — one that other universities in the region and beyond can look to when embedding AI into their own operations.
Aligned With the UAE's National AI Strategy
The UAEU AI Agenda 2025-2031 does not exist in isolation. It is explicitly designed to support the UAE's broader National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, which targets making the UAE one of the world's top AI economies by 2031. The Centennial 2071 vision — which charts the UAE's long-term development goals over the next five decades — also underpins the initiative.
By building AI literacy and research capacity within its student population, UAEU aims to produce graduates who are equipped to contribute to AI advancement globally, not just within the UAE.
Producing the Next Generation of AI Graduates
A central ambition of the agenda is ensuring that UAEU graduates emerge as capable, technology-forward professionals ready for the demands of an AI-driven economy. The university plans to integrate AI into curricula, build new conceptual frameworks, and invest in research capabilities that keep pace with rapid global advances in the field.
The launch event drew faculty from across UAEU's colleges and departments, reflecting the institution-wide scope of the commitment. Administrators, researchers, and academic leads all participated, signalling that the agenda is not confined to the College of Information Technology but spans the entire university.
