Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has welcomed its second cohort of students for the 2021 fall semester. MBZUAI is a graduate-level research university specializing in artificial intelligence (AI); a total of 74 students have enrolled in the three programs, with 66 pursuing master’s degrees and nine pursuing Ph.D. studies.
A total of 41 students have enrolled in the Computer Vision program at the University, with another 24 in the Machine Learning program. This year, MBZUAI also launched Natural Language Processing (NLP), with 9 students enrolled in the first class.
Students from 29 nations are represented in the MBZUAI cohort of 2021, including 14 new countries for the first time. Ten of them are UAE citizens, with others hailing from the United States, India, Italy, China, Kazakhstan, and elsewhere. The United Kingdom, France, Hungary, Mexico, Colombia, and other countries are now represented as the University’s renown grows. This year, the University got over 5,000 applications, demonstrating the strong level of competition in the admissions process. With 23 female candidates seeking degrees in MBZUAI’s second academic year, women are strongly represented. At the start of the year, MBZUAI had 71 students in its inaugural intake studying Computer Vision and Machine Learning.
Professor Fakhreddine (Fakhri) Karray, the University’s new Provost, Reem Al Orfali, Director of Student Affairs, and Faris Almalik, vice president of the Student Council, welcomed the students.
The new cohort earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from some of the world’s most prestigious universities, including Purdue University, the University of Edinburgh, the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Harbin Institute of Technology, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, and Khalifa University in the United Arab Emirates.
. ProfessorEric Xing, President of MBZUAI, said: “From the moment we welcomed our first students we aimed to welcome the world to Abu Dhabi to help advance and solve some of the world’s great challenges. Our second cohort reflects a diversity of skills and backgrounds that will enrich the development of the technology and help it reach full potential for the betterment of businesses, society, and economies here in the UAE and beyond.”
MBZUAI has formed a number of important AI research and development relationships with famous organisations such as the Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA), Technology Innovation Institute (TII), Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA), and the Weizmann Institute of Science over the last year.
Students at MBZUAI will take live classes in the University’s purpose-built, high-tech campus in Masdar City, which includes smart classrooms and advanced computing labs, as well as a specialist AI knowledge centre, modern gym and leisure facilities.
