About Us

NYU Abu Dhabi delivers an outstanding liberal arts and sciences education with a distinctive focus on intercultural understanding, inclusion, and global citizenship to students from around the world. NYU Abu Dhabi offers an impressive range of courses, undergraduate research opportunities, internships, community service placements, and career development support.

Classes are small and engaging; professors are accessible and inspiring, and opportunities for belonging to the community on and off-campus are threaded throughout.

Our home, Abu Dhabi, is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a federation of seven emirates (states) formed in 1971, located along the eastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. In four short decades, Abu Dhabi has become one of the Middle East’s most important economic and cultural centers. The city boasts a diverse population of 1.45 million, 80% of whom are international residents from approximately 150 countries.

We live on Saadiyat Island, the cultural district of Abu Dhabi, where NYU Abu Dhabi is located alongside the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum, the future Guggenheim Museum, a National Museum in honor of the founder of the country Sheikh Zayed as well as the Abrahamic Family House, a spiritual and educational center bringing together a mosque, a church, and a synagogue.

Our campus was designed to promote interaction between living and learning, research and teaching, the disciplines as well as faculty, students, and staff. You will have access to research laboratories, classrooms, art and music-making spaces, and other facilities that enrich the day-to-day life of our community members. Along with classmates from around the world and the Emirates, you can spend your free time learning about different cultures, sampling the country’s diverse international cuisine, playing sports, or relaxing on one of the UAE’s most beautiful beaches.

The students who have come before you have been intellectually curious, adventuresome, hardworking scholars and mindful community members.

They have connected broadly and deeply in classes, residential life, sports teams, student clubs, student government, and in the community. They have returned to New York and Shanghai with a new story to tell about this part of the Middle East, many with a dream for the future that might include continuing their studies or working here and with friends from around the world.

We invite you to join us to continue that tradition of great cultural exploration, deep learning, and enjoying all that NYU Abu Dhabi and the UAE has to offer.

 السلام عليكم. Peace be upon you.

Liria Gjidija
Director, Global Outreach and Programs
Global Education
NYU Abu Dhabi