To the hot and dry landscape, add the growing pains that accompany a start-up university, and every day poses challenges. Zayed University, like the country that gave it birth, is young. The two ZU campuses at Abu Dhabi and Dubai have just completed their second year of educating Emirati women in this Arab nation founded in 1971.
All students commute daily because neither campus provides dormitories.
Both campuses, though, are walled, gated and guarded. There were 831 students registered in Dubai and 618 on the Abu Dhabi campus as the university closed its gates at the end of the 2000 spring term. The university's mission is to prepare national women for leadership in the United Arab Emirates and the Arab world. Sheik Zayed, the ruler of this oil and commerce rich country, has faith in education and in the intelligence and capability of national women. Federal funds have been provided to establish and support the university.