NYU Abu Dhabi will welcome its first cohort of students pursuing a Master’s in Interdisciplinary Data Science and Artificial Intelligence in fall 2026, making it the first institution to offer such a program in the United Arab Emirates.
The two-year, 36-credit program will allow students to explore seven specialization areas — including economics, health informatics and Arabic language processing — through 15 credits of electives, in an effort to create a “more collaborative world.” In addition to a full-year thesis and annual research workshops, the program will also offer merit-based scholarships for international students. Applications are currently open until Feb. 16.
“We launched MIDSAI to meet the growing demand for professionals who can bridge advanced data science, AI and domain expertise,” program head Pierre Youssef wrote in a statement to WSN. “Our goal was to design a program that combines strong theoretical foundations with hands-on, interdisciplinary research.”
Students will work with partners in both industry and government to learn skills relevant to areas of national priority such as sustainability and education, Youssef added. In 2017, the UAE launched its Strategy for Artificial Intelligence, outlining a plan for global leadership in AI and its use in governance and business.
MIDSAI associate program head Aaron Kaufman wrote in a statement to WSN that the first cohort will consist of 15 to 25 students, and will eventually expand to about 40 students.
“The UAE’s AI strategy wasn’t part of our original motivation, but it lent us fantastic tailwinds,” Kaufman said. “We’ve been building connections with government and industry partners to drive research collaborations, train their top analysts in cutting-edge methods and ensure that our program is giving students what they need to get top jobs in what is the toughest job market for engineers in decades.”
Coinciding with the launch of MIDSAI, NYU Abu Dhabi admitted six students to its new Ph.D. in Astrophysics and Space Systems program — also the first of its kind in the UAE. Next August, it will also offer an Executive MBA program through the Stern School of Business. The partnership comes after the Abu Dhabi campus and Stern launched a one-year MBA program in February, which allows students to work with leading tech companies.
The QS World University Rankings places NYU No. 17 out of 850 global institutions for Computer Science and Information Systems programs.
“To do meaningful work in AI, one needs a holistic view — from the theoretical foundations and enabling technologies to real-world applications and the ethical, bias and privacy considerations that come with them,” Youssef said. “The program was designed to bring all these facets together into a cohesive learning and research experience.”
Contact Chantal Mann at [email protected].