Within a short period of four years, MBZUAI, Abu Dhabi, has the earned the reputation of being the world’s first artificial intelligence-focused university Established in 2019, the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), Abu Dhabi has earned the reputation of being the world’s first AI (artificial intelligence) focused university. An exclusively postgrad and research institution (it doesn’t offer any undergrad programmes), in a short span of four years, MBZUAI has earned global acclaim for providing cutting-edge graduate AI education and research. In the 2022 CS Rankings compiled by Emery Berger, a professor in the College of Information & Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (USA) campus, MBZUAI is ranked #127 worldwide in computer science and in its area of specialisation — AI, computer vision, machine learning, and natural language processing — #19 globally. Within three years of admitting its first batch of postgrad students, MBZUAI has concluded collaboration agreements with top-ranked universities worldwide and impressive industry-academia partnerships with corporates such as IBM, BioMap, Quris-AI, Infinite Brain Technologies (IBT), Malaria No More, Weizmann Institute of Science, and GE Healthcare. Named after Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, MBZUAI was established four years ago and officially licensed by the ministry of education to award degree certification on March 10, 2020. Currently, the university offers three Masters and doctoral programmes to 147 students from 27 countries mentored by 50 faculty of which half are from Abu Dhabi. Its President is Dr. Eric Xing, an alum of Rutgers University, University of California, Berkeley and Tsinghua University (China). “While we have a strong focus on foundational AI, much of the true innovation in AI comes in applied/interdisciplinary contexts, where intra-institutional opportunities are limited for a ‘narrower’ university. But our faculty has built strong international networks and signed up inter-disciplinary collaboration agreements with comprehensive universities worldwide and also with end users such as industry, hospitals, government institutions,” says Timothy Baldwin, Acting Provost, Associate Provost for Academic Affairs, and professor of natural language processing, MBZUAI. MBZUAI alumni have thus far been placed with the Abu Dhabi Police, G42, Technology Innovation Institute, Metaverse Centre, Inria Lille Institute, Royal Eficaz, FortyGuard, Shinobi Security, Yalla Group, and SnapChat, UK among other organisations. Abu Dhabi. The admin capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi (pop.1.5 million) is a political, business and cultural hub with all federal government offices, parliament and foreign embassies located in this compact, well-planned city. Architecturally, Abu Dhabi is an aesthetic blend of domes and minarets of traditional mosques and gleaming futuristic skyscrapers. Tree-lined boulevards, manicured lawns, dazzling fountains and extensive parks successfully contradict the reality that this thriving city has been built in a desert, an impression reinforced by the marvellously engineered Abu Dhabi Corniche. The climate in Abu Dhabi is harsh during summer (June-September) when temperatures soar to 50°C. Winter temperatures range between 20°C-33°C. This entrepot is well-connected with daily direct flights (three-four hours duration) plying from Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Bengaluru and Cochin. Campus facilities.…
