Heriot-Watt University Dubai opens new campus at Dubai Knowledge Park

Heriot-Watt University Dubai, the United Arab Emirates branch of the UK-based university, has opened a new campus at Dubai Knowledge Park, according to reports published on April 18, 2021. The facility covers about 218,000 square feet across seven floors and is set to serve nearly 4,000 students.

The campus contains eight types of teaching space, including collaborative lecture theaters and pod rooms fitted with linked computers and screens. Its laboratories support automotive, chemical, civil, mechanical, electrical, energy, robotics and structural engineering, and there are also psychology and information technology labs and design studios. Other facilities include a Bloomberg trading room with market simulation, a library, a mathematics support center, a student services center, and a business incubator run by Edinburgh Business School. The university also reported recruiting more than 100 professional services staff over the preceding year.

Heriot-Watt began operating in Dubai in 2005, when it became the first international university to open a campus in Dubai Academic City. The 2021 relocation moves the branch to a new site within the emirate. Its student body is reported to represent 105 nationalities, and local coverage described the new building as a digitally enabled campus.