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The Dubai bug has caught up with Bharati Vidyapeeth University (BVU), months after University of Pune (UoP) was laid low. But the BVU has taken remedial measures unlike the UoP and has decided to put an end to Dubai campus dreams and instead concentrate on a campus at Ras Al Khaimah, an emirate at the north end of the UAE, 64 km from Dubai.

A change in policy by the Dubai authorities had put paid to the efforts of BVU to flag off its Dubai campus in September. With this setback, the BVU has also revised its timeline to February 2009 to roll out its BBA and MBA courses from the Ras Al Khaimah campus.

Plans to move to Ras Al Khaimah were confirmed by S F Patil, coordinator of the BVU project. “We had been trying hard to meet the deadline to start our Dubai campus. Owing to some changes in the policy by the Dubai authorities, we were not able to meet it. As we had taken up land in Ras Al Khaimah as well, we shifted our focus there,” he said.

Ras Al Khaimah is reportedly the third preferred destination for educational campuses in the UAE, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi. With the UAE government promoting educational activities in each of the seven emirates and thereby creating free zones for foreign institutes to set up their campuses, Ras Al Khaimah was an easy choice for BVU to make, a source said.

BVU had planned to start the campus at Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) and had been working at it for the past one year. BVU had declared in April that the Dubai campus would start by September 2008.

“The shift in the policy of the Dubai authorities says the present land of one lakh sq ft that we have at DIAC, should be used for a school. This forced us to change our plans,” said Patil.

Patil reiterated that the management courses would definitely be started from February 2009 at Ras Al Khaimah. “The initial intake will be 120 students, 60 each for the BBA and MBA courses,” he said.

The university has initially invested around Rs 5 crore for the Dubai campus. “Many Indians have settled down in Dubai. Normally, their children come to India for degree courses. We will be targeting such students as well as the natives,” said Patil.

There are more than 10 Indian institutes in Dubai including BITS-Pilani, S P Jain Institute and Manipal University. Besides BVU, University of Pune and Symbiosis International University are the premium universities from Pune that have been planning their Dubai campuses.

Too many Indian players?
The authorities in Dubai feel that the Dubai International Academic City (DIAC) should have a global face and it will not be achieved if there are too many institutes from only one country. And that is why the authorities have put a restriction on the number of institutes from India and decided to give preference to European, American and Australian institutes.

Meanwhile, Symbiosis International University has already declared that its Dubai campus would start in September 2009.

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Source: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/bharati-vidyapeeth-university-makes-a-campus-shift/373542/