

N.Y.U. Abu Dhabi Scours Globe for Top Students - eplanit
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/education/21nyu.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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rameshnid
The middleast realizes that education is important for their growth once they
run out of oil. They notice the success of israel and are trying to mimic it
by creating institutes of excellence, but what they dont realize is there is
no way they can mimic the culture of israel, which is more responsible for
their success than anything else.

Its like u can build buildings in Bangalore but u cant replicate the culture
of the valley. Bangalore ended up being a sweatshop where technology companies
set up back end offices.

More over when half your population is not considered equal to the other half
and is considered not ok for smart jobs or serious careers, I think that's a
serious disadvantage human capital wise. Personally I don't think these
programs will do any good.

Also, most of these programs are really new and I doubt if they will match the
quality of the parent programs.

Disclaimer- I was offered to interview for one such program last year and I
did not take it up.

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Maven911
As international as they try to make it, I do not expect it to beat the flood
of global students applying to USA schools, some departments in US schools,
especially in the master's/Ph.D levels are a lot more international then you
would expect.

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stoicagent
[http://www.cs.cornell.edu/People/Students/MEngStudents/index...](http://www.cs.cornell.edu/People/Students/MEngStudents/index.htm)

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stoicagent
wtf? WHY DOWNVOTED? I WAS PROVIDING GOOD REFERENCE FOR ABOVE COMMENT!

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davidalln
Why Abu Dhabi? If you're really going for an "international" school, why
wouldn't you pick somewhere a bit more stable? If neutrality is key, then I'd
choose someplace like Geneva.

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nl
What's unstable about Abu Dhabi?

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davidalln
It's strong economy is based on a limited resource that much of the world is
shifting away from. And its social policies remain incompatible with many of
the major countries of today.

Also, the surrounding area is torn apart by a never-ending war.

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nl
_It's strong economy is based on a limited resource that much of the world is
shifting away from._

Unlike most other gulf states, Abu Dhabi has actually been diversifying it's
economy for years. According to Wikipeda, _non oil and gas GDP now constitutes
64% of the UAE’s total GDP_ <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Dhabi#Economy>

_its social policies remain incompatible with many of the major countries of
today_

Perhaps, but it's certainly more liberal than most of it's neighbors. I would
have thought an international university could act as a factor to improve that
as well.

 _the surrounding area is torn apart by a never-ending war_

It's about 600km from Iraq. That's very roughly the same distance Los Angles
is from the Mexican drug wars - where more people are being killed than Iraq
at the moment.

