NYU’s Stern School of Business recently announced that it will launch a one-year MBA program at the university’s Abu Dhabi campus in January 2025, citing global expansion as a key motivator.
The program is meant to target incoming business students in the United Arab Emirates, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa region. In a written statement to WSN, Stern dean Raghu Sundaram said this partnership will help grow NYU’s relationship with the Emirati and European trade markets, noting the UAE’s rapidly evolving economy.
“We are the only top U.S. business school offering a full-time MBA in the Middle East, giving ambitious students the opportunity to earn an MBA degree in one year and begin their post-MBA careers in the MENA region,” Sundaram said. “The launch of the Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi one-year full-time MBA program is a groundbreaking innovation.”
As per program requirements, students will spend the spring and fall semesters at NYU Abu Dhabi and a summer semester abroad at the university’s Washington Square campus. It will require 54 credits — rather than the 60 required by Stern’s standard two-year program — condensed into an intensive 12-month curriculum.
In a Sept. 19 press release, NYU president Linda Mills called the program’s establishment in the UAE “a landmark occasion” and a step in the right direction for the future of the campus. Mills was heavily involved in the establishment of the university’s Abu Dhabi campus and “played a crucial role” in the development of its admissions process, student affairs and campus life programs.
“The launch of this program — NYUAD’s first professional degree offering, created in collaboration with NYU’s Stern School — is an important new stage in NYU Abu Dhabi’s successful development,” Mills said in the release. “It is also a wonderful example of the type of cross-school collaboration that we can expect to see more of in the coming years, and I have no doubt its impact will be felt both regionally and globally.”
Robert Salomon, a professor of international management at Stern, will lead the program as inaugural dean of Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi. His work focused extensively on globalization and global strategy, with research specifically in international expansion and governance, cross-border knowledge transfer, international trade, foreign entry and location decisions.
“We are extremely proud to be the only program of its kind in the UAE, a global business and finance center in its own right and increasingly the gateway not just to the Middle East and North Africa, but to the rest of the African continent,” Sundaram said.
Admissions to the program will open in October and applications are due by January 2025, with the first cohort expected to consist of between 40 and 50 students.
Contact Dharma Niles at [email protected].
