President Linda Mills made an appearance at the Feb. 10 inauguration ceremony for NYU Abu Dhabi’s Master of Business Administration program, which welcomed its first class this semester as part of the university’s effort to grow its relationship with European and Emirati trade markets.
This collaboration between the Abu Dhabi campus and the Stern School of Business offers a one-year MBA program with an inaugural cohort of 54 students. Candidates will work under the guidance of 11 full-time faculty members and work on projects with leading companies including Microsoft, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and other institutions.
“The inaugural cohort of MBA students at Stern at NYUAD embodies the future of global business leadership,” Mills said at the event. “This program reflects NYU’s commitment to delivering transformative global education and equipping exceptional students with the skills, networks and experiences needed to drive progress and innovation.”
As a Senior Vice Provost for Global Programs and University Life during its first few years, Mills was heavily involved in establishing NYU’s Abu Dhabi site and “played a crucial role” in the development of its admissions process, student affairs and campus life. At the Stern MBA opening ceremony, Mills stood alongside the U.S. Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Martina Strong, UAE Ambassador to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba and several UAE-based businesspeople.
Announced in 2023, the program consists of full-time fall and spring modules taking place in Abu Dhabi and a summer module at Stern, where students will work alongside the world’s leading professors and top industry experts. Administrators within the program have told WSN that by offering the new degree, they aim to expand their footprint in the growing Emirati business scene.
“The Middle East is a fast-growing and thriving region, and the UAE sits at the center of this growth,” NYU Abu Dhabi Provost Arlie Petters said in a statement to WSN. “As a region on a rapid growth trajectory, the UAE has a rising demand for top business talent, and Stern at NYUAD is ideally positioned to develop talent with this MBA program.”
Adam Dawoud, an MBA candidate at the Abu Dhabi site, told WSN he enjoys the small cohort and that resources and professors are personalized and easily accessible. Dawoud added that the location of this program allows him to complete an MBA degree within a shorter time frame, compared to the two-year track at Stern.
Dawoud also said the program allows him to reconnect with his Egyptian identity and combine his medical background with specialized business skills. Having worked at Mount Sinai for three years, he noted that stepping out of an excessively saturated market in the United States allowed him to have more opportunities for work in the health care industry.
“Out of the areas in the Middle East, it is most developed in the UAE — but in the grand scheme of things, it is still behind Western advancements,” Dawoud said. “So from a health care standpoint, there is a lot more potential to make impacts and to bring over these technologies.”
Dawoud also noted that NYU Abu Dhabi — entirely funded by the UAE government — allows students to focus more on their research and learning experience because their work is more financially supported. In contrast, securing grants for research projects at Stern involves a more complicated process that relies on external funding and contributions from private donors.
Stern was ranked No. 17 across 340 full-time MBA programs in the QS World University Rankings list of top MBA programs for 2025. NYU Abu Dhabi’s new MBA program makes it the highest-ranked U.S. business school to offer the degree in the Middle East-North African region.
“The caliber of the faculty, the students and the curriculum in Abu Dhabi mirrors the highest standard of excellence, which has become synonymous with Stern in New York City,” Robert Salomon, the dean of Stern at NYU Abu Dhabi, said in a statement to WSN. “So the range of learning opportunities will be both deep and expansive.”
Contact Amanda Chen at [email protected].
