College Of Business Administration

Comparative Analysis of University of Dubai and Abu Dhabi University

“Education Sector”

Table of Content

I. Current Situation……………………………………………………………………………3
II. Corporate Governance………………………………………………………………………4
III. External Environment………………………………………………………………………4
IV. Internal Environment………………………………………………………………………6
V. Analysis of Strategic Factors (SWOT)……………………………………………………7
VI. Strategic Alternatives and Recommended Strategy………………………………………7
VII. Implementation, Evaluation and Control…………………………………………………7
VIII. References……………………………………………………………………………………7
IX. Appendix A…………………………………………………………………………………8
X. Appendix B…………………………………………………………………………………14

Strategic Audit of Abu Dhabi University & University of Dubai I. Current Situation:
|Strategic Posture |
|University of Dubai |Abu Dhabi University |
|Vision: University of Dubai is working with a vision of being a leading |Vision: To provide high quality in education, apply and use research |
|University across UAE offering the higher education in the American system|tools for economic development and gain international accreditation |
|with internationally accredited degree programs on the platform of quality|plus to be the best in UAE, Gulf region and the world. |
|in teaching research services for serving the business community. |Mission: The mission of ADU is to offer highly rewarding career |
|Mission: To serving the needs of diverse group of UG, PG and professional |oriented undergraduate and graduate degree programs aligned with the |
|educational courses, gain international standards, develop future leaders |needs of UAE and the region through excellence in teaching, student |
|and contribute to economic development. |learning, faculty scholarship and engagement in community development. |
|Objectives: To promote the skilled students, UAE nationals, Keep a network|Objectives: To create a student-centered learning environment conducive|
|of alumni, create an educational environment, gain national & |to intellectual and personal growth of students, meet the needs of |
|international accreditation programs, recruit higher level of faculty and |stakeholders, contribute to the community, achieve academic & |
|staff, look for financial support from the business community and keep a |operational excellence, instill a culture of valuing people and create |
|continuous improvement process to improve services. |an environment conducive to innovation and professional excellence of |
|Strategies: UD aims to expand via adding more programs rather than the |faculty and staff and reach a sustainable financial position. |
|bachelor such as Master, Doctoral & Arabic College of Law. Also enrich |Strategies: ADU affiliation with outstanding universities and |
|undergraduate’s enrollment through student’s clubs, activities and |organizations around the world. These affiliations include University |
|recruitment. Moreover, UD is in process of reallocation to a new building |of London, Monash University, National university of Singapore, |
|to gain student’s satisfaction and to provide a healthy educational |institute of business consulting, Pearson education and many other |
|environment which will reflect the revenue positively. |strong partnerships. |
|Polices (Academic & Financial): UD has a set of academic policies that are|Polices (Academic & Financial): The University has a set of academic |
|implemented on all students. These policies are attendance, academic |integrity policies that are applied for undergraduate and graduate |
|warning, repeating courses, duration of study, credit hours of 129 for |students. ADU focuses on cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, collusion, |
|undergraduates, missed exam policy, change of concentration and graduation|false credentials & free riding. ADU has a financial policy that allows|
|requirements. UD also inquire an amount of price for each credit hour. |students to pay the fees in full amount or by issuing checks. |
| |Undergraduates have to finish a total of 129 credit hours to graduate. |

II. Corporate Governance:
|Board of Directors |
|University of Dubai |Abu Dhabi University |
|Board of directors are appointed by the directors of Dubai chamber of |The board of trustees consists of 18 members – most of them are in UAE |
|commerce and there by Dubai chamber directors are appointed by the Rulers |government positions and they have been on board since ADU was |
|court of Dubai |established in 2003. |
|The board of trustees of University of Dubai appoints the president of UD. |The board of trustees always appoints the president of ADU. |
|Top Management |
|University of Dubai |Abu Dhabi University |
|Prof. Omar Hefni is the president of UD. He earned his PhD degree in |Prof. Nabil Ibrahim is the president of ADU and a member of BOT. He has |
|strategic management, business economics and public administration and his |22 years of experience in technology innovation, business growth and |
|MBA in Industrial management from university of southern California. He |entrepreneurship at USA and worked with several strong companies. He |
|also earned his Bachelor of commerce in accounting from Alexandria |received his PhD in engineering from McMaster University in Canada and |
|University in Egypt. Moreover, Prof Omar has worked with strong companies |his bachelor degree from Cairo University in Egypt. |
|and held important positions such as Chief Economist and Director of |ADU follows the centralized structure that connects the vision of H.H. |
|Business Research. |Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the board of trustees. The |
|The interaction of the top management to other departments is the |president of ADU shares this vision to the rest of the university. |
|following; at the lower level of the hierarchy, Deans of different colleges| |
|supervise associate and assistant professors. | |

III. External Environment: Opportunities and Threats (SWOT)
|Societal Environment |
|University of Dubai |Abu Dhabi University |
|Economic |Economic |
|Crisis in 2011 resulting in many expatriates moving out of Dubai (T) |AD strong economic performance. (O) |
|Technological |Increase in cash inflow due to greater student |
|Enterprise resource management for different modules (O) |enrolment.(O) |
|Political-Legal |Technological |
|No government backing to the University (T) |IT & modern technologies in Abu Dhabi that leads to |
|Trustees of UD are appointed by DCCI (O) |innovation.(O) |
|Recognized by MOHES (O) |Political-Legal |
|Ruler of Dubai granted 3,000,000 square feet land in Academic city for developing state |Stable politics.(O) |
|of the art campus (O) |Recognized by MOHESR.(O) |
|Corporate Social Responsibility in other universities. (O) |Socio-cultural |
|Socio-cultural |Mix of Local & Foreign students which creates group |
|Mix of Local & Foreign students which creates group isolation.(T) |isolation.(T) |
|Task Environment |
|University of Dubai |Abu Dhabi University |
|Bargaining power of Buyers (Low): Fees are applied to all students with |Bargaining power of Buyers (Low): All students at ADU pay the same amount |
|the same level of academic degree except the ones with scholarships and |of tuition fees except for those who earned a scholarship or financial |
|financial aids. (O) |aid. (O) |
|Bargaining power of suppliers (Medium): Pearson education can use its |Bargaining power of suppliers (Medium): ADU is an important customer & |
|powerful reputation to switch to another university or raise its prices |affiliated with Pearson education. In addition, a supplier always looks |
|per book. But there are always other publishers for UD like McGraw Hill.|for his benefit and this can be a threat to ADU. (T) |
|(T) |Threat of New Entrants (High): ADU faces a threat of strong foreign |
|Threat of New Entrants (High): UD faces a threat of new strong entrants |universities like NYU or Sorbonne University. So far ADU has failed to |
|like London business school. UD has already placed some barriers for new|place effective barriers such as its accreditation and reputation. (T) |
|entrants like AACSB & ABET accreditations and they can still place |Threat of Substitutes (Medium): Students who don’t find their required |
|barriers by focusing on advertising (T). |criteria from ADU will definitely switch to other universities. These |
|Threat of Substitutes (Medium): From a price perspective, tuition fees |required needs include location, prices, degree programs and quality of |
|are applied upon all students even if some of them are price |education. (T) |
|sensitive.(T) |Competitive Rivalry (Medium): Comparing to UD, ADU faces few competitors |
|Competitive Rivalry (High): Enormous number of universities in Dubai |in Abu Dhabi. ADU has successfully introduced DBA degree which made them |
|will increase the intensity of competition and therefore; it will lead |gain competitive advantage.(T) |
|to an increase in the cost of competition. (T) | |
|Summary of External Factors (List in the EFAS Table-1, p.8 and Table-4 p.14) |

IV. Internal Environment: Strengths and Weaknesses (SWOT)
|Corporate Structure |
|University of Dubai |Abu Dhabi University |
|Flat hierarchy structure and strong communication between all levels.(S) |Centralization structure.(S) |
|Three major departments. (W) |Flat hierarchy structure and strong communication between all levels.(S) |
|Corporate Culture |
|University of Dubai |Abu Dhabi University |
|Ethical behaviour in all aspects of life, Sound citizenship, respect for |Collegiality, integrity, equity, innovation, agility and service above |
|the opinions of others, equal opportunity for genders, continuous |self. |
|improvement in teaching, learning and research, teamwork and student | |
|centred with quality focus. | |
|Corporate Resources |
|Marketing |Marketing |
|Offering scholarship to UAE nationals (S) |Reasonable prices, financial aids and scholarships.(S) |
|Highest number of accreditations in Dubai based Universities (CAC-ABET, |Aggressive advertising & informative website. (S) |
|AACSB, MOHESR and many more) (S) |Accredited by the MOHESR (S) |
|Few affiliations with strong universities |Strong accreditation is unavailable (AACSB & ABET). (W) |
|Finance |Finance |
|Strong backing by Dubai Chamber of Commerce (S) |Backed up by the board of trustees of strong positions in the government.|
|Maintaining a good investment in new building (S) |(S) |
|R & D |Engaging in beneficial investments (S) |
|Quality culture supporting continuous improvement (S) |R & D |
|Operations and Logistics |Coming up maximum number of accredited courses (S) |
|Certified by ISO 9001:2004 (S) |Quality culture supporting continuous improvement (S) |
|Error occurs infrequently when logging to online resources.(W) |Operations and Logistics |
|Insufficient information on the website for MBA students.(W) |Certified by ISO 9001:2008.(S) |
|Human Resources Management |Poor Location (W) |
|Employees are from varied cultures (W) |Human Resources Management |
|Information Technology (IT) |Employees are from different cultures which affect teamwork.(W) |
|Moodle and Library online (W) |Information Technology (IT) |
| |Black board, E-online service (S) |
|Summary of Internal Factors (List in the IFAS, Table-2 p.9, Table-5 p.15) |
|Value Chain Analysis (List in Figuire-1 p.10, Figuire-4 p.16) |

V. Analysis of Strategic Factors (SWOT):

|Situational Analysis (List in SFAS Matrix, Figure-2 p.11, Figure-5 p.17) |
|Review of Mission and Objectives |
|University of Dubai |Abu Dhabi University |
|UD succeeded in accomplishing its mission and objectives so far, as they |ADU has succeeded in accomplishing its mission and some of its |
|are very concerned about delivering knowledge in a very good format as well|objectives. Its affiliations with strong organizations and |
|as accrediting their programs that enables all level of students to grasp |universities are not sufficient to have a strong competitive |
|the courses effortlessly. |advantage. ADU should gain strong accreditations such as AACSB. |

VI. Strategic Alternatives and Recommended Strategy:

|Strategic Alternatives (See the TOWS Matrix, Figure-3 p.12, Figure-6 p.18) |
|Recommended Strategy |
|University of Dubai |Abu Dhabi University |
|It is recommended for UD to acquire the differentiation strategy to maintain |It is recommended for ADU to start increasing its reputation through |
|its unique quality services and position among Dubai universities. |different locations of advertising and acquiring world-wide |
| |accreditation. |

VII. Implementation, Evaluation and Control: (List in Table-3 p.13, Table-6 p.19)

VIII. References :

▪ Abu Dhabi University [online]. Available: http://www.adu.ac.ae/en [Accessed 8 Nov 2011].

▪ The National News [online]. Available: http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/abu-dhabi-university-considers-expansion [Accessed 9 Nov. 2011]

▪ AME info [online]. Available: http://www.ameinfo.com/216579.html [Accessed 9 Nov.2011]

▪ University of Dubai [online]: www.ud.ac.ae [Accessed Nov.2011]

Appendix A

UD EFAS, Table-1:

|EFAS |
|1 |Increase the in-flows due to the high number of registered students |0.10 |3 |0.30 |Bachelor/Master’s students has increased |
|2 |Trustees of UD are appointed by Chamber of commerce |0.15 |4 |0.60 |Which will strengthen the UD position |
|3 |Ruler of Dubai granted 3,000,000 square feet land in Academic city for developing state |0.10 |5 |0.50 |To facilitate delivering the services in an |
| |of the art campus | | | |educational environment. |
|4 |Recognized by (MOHESR) |0.10 |4.5 |0.45 |That eases the selection of UD. |
|5 |Corporate Social Responsibility in other universities. |0.05 |3 |0.15 |High reputation. |
|Threats |
|1 |Crisis in 2011 resulting in many expatriates moving out of Dubai |0.10 |2.2 |0.22 |This might decrease revenue and increase cost |
|2 |New educational institutes in the region |0.10 |4 |0.40 |Wollongong & AUD |
|3 |In-complete campus in Academic city |0.10 |3.5 |0.35 |Might lead students to switch to another institutes |
|4 |Supplier will switch to another university. |0.10 |3 |0.30 |Supplier might increase prices on UD. |
|5 |Alliance of foreign universities in Dubai. |0.10 |4 |0.40 |Will have to apply the same strategy. |
|Total |1.00 |- |3.67 | |

UD IFAS, Table-2:

|IFAS |
|1 |Strong backing by Dubai Chamber of Commerce |0.05 |4 |0.20 |Which will make it easier to invest |
|2 |High number of accreditations in Dubai based Universities (CAC-ABET, AACSB, MOHESR and |0.15 |5 |0.75 |That adds value to the reputation and quality of |
| |many more) | | | |education provided by UD |
|3 |Offering scholarship to UAE nationals & Discounts |0.05 |4.5 |0.23 |Provides job opportunities for students |
|4 |Higher investment in the new building |0.10 |4 |0.40 |To solve the accessibility issue & having an own |
| | | | | |compound |
|5 |Coming up variety of accredited courses |0.15 |4 |0.60 |To attract a big number of education seekers |
|6 |Quality culture supporting continuous improvement |0.05 |4.6 |0.23 |Faculty members provides assistance & encourages |
| | | | | |students to lead |
|Weaknesses |
|1 |Employees are from varied cultures |0.05 |2.2 |0.11 |It is not always easy to understand multi cultures |
|2 |Poor location with difficult access & parking |0.05 |4 |0.20 |Alternatives are available and it will make it an |
| | | | | |option to switch. Increase dissatisfaction rate |
|3 |Few affiliations with strong universities |0.15 |4 |0.60 |Cannot compete on performance with other |
| | | | | |universities. |
|4 |Error occurs infrequently when logging to online resources. |0.10 |3.5 |0.35 |Delay work accomplishment by current students. |
|5 |Insufficient information on the website for MBA students. |0.10 |4 |0.40 |Future students outside the country will switch to |
| | | | | |other universities. |
|Total |1.00 |- |4.07 | |

UD Value Chain Analysis, Figure-1:

|Inbound logistics |UD is supplied by Pearson books and McGraw Hill. Moreover, it is being supplied by high speed internet, HP computers & printers, chairs and tables to |
| |facilitate student needs in the university. |
|Operations |The above mentioned inbounds have helped registrars, admission officers, teachers and other departments to transfer knowledge and information to students |
| |and set all the necessities at UD. |
|Outbound logistics |Inbound logistics and operations resulted in providing a quality outcome for students who are seeking knowledge at UD. |
|Marketing & Sales |UD awareness is increased through word of mouth and online advertisements. There is no specific distribution channels for UD but its location is in one of |
| |the most attractive and crowded places in Dubai. |
|Services |UD is offering high information system that allows students to register online, surf the net, having a university email address, online access to |
| |educational materials (library and Moodle), as well as that, the offline registration is done fast. In addition, the admission process for new students |
| |meets their expectations. |
|Infrastructure |Future Students goes through 3 major departments at UD in order to complete their registration process; admission, registration and finance. A current |
| |student goes only through the registration department. UD is funded by the DCCI and the management structure follows a flat hierarchy structure. |
|HRM |UD offer their assistance to provide work placement for students to complete their internship course. Moreover, UD has initiated the CMPD to develop |
| |student’s skills and abilities to prepare them to excel in their careers. Professors and Drs at UD are satisfied with their salaries as their job has a |
| |non-financial compensation such as flexibility in working hours. Moreover, UD provides development programs at CMPD center for any student or faculty |
| |member wishes to develop his/her talents. |
|Technology Development |UD is up-to-date in IT which shows their concern in transferring knowledge in an effective way. |
|Procurement |UD has acquired a sufficient amount of inputs such as books and computers to meet student and faculty member’s needs in the university. The amount of |
| |inputs is based on students and faculty members’ requirements and demands. |

UD SFAS Matrix, Figure-2:

|Strategic Factors |Weight |Rate |
|Opportunity (O) |SO Strategies |WO Strategies |
|(O1) Ruler of Dubai granted 3,000,000 square feet land in|Initiate new programs (Interior / exterior design, Engineering and |Offer off distance class (online) |
|Academic city to develop a new campus |Medicine) |Provide training, cross cultural sessions & professional development |
|(O2) Increase the in-flows due to the high number of |Increase revenues due to higher local share & relatives enrolling |program for faculty members to improve their skills |
|registered students |to the university |Engage in CSR to have cooperation with strong universities. |
|(O3) Trustees of UD are appointed by Chamber of commerce|Advance in infrastructure to help students to achieve their course | |
|(O4) Corporate Social Responsibility in other |learning objectives sufficiently. | |
|universities. | | |
|(O5) Recognized by (MOHESR). | | |
|Threat (T) |ST Strategies |WT Strategies |
|(T1) New educational institutes in the region |Acquire strong partnership with strong universities around the |Partner up with more than one supplier. |
|(T2) In-complete campus in Academic city |world. |Improve the design quality of UD website |
|(T3) Financial crisis & its affect on expatriates |Initiate special financial compensations to faculty members. |Complete the new campus in academic city on time. |
|(T4) Supplier will switch to another university. |Initiate joint programs to acquire the degree from both UD and | |
|(T5) Alliance of foreign universities in Dubai |another good university. | |
| |Increase awareness of CMPD programs. | |

UD Implementation, Evaluation and Control, Table-3:

|Implementation, Evaluation and Control |
|Strategic factor |
|1 | Abu Dhabi strong economic performance. |0.15 |5.0 |0.75 |Job opportunities for graduates. |
|2 |Recognized by MOHESR |0.10 |5.0 |0.50 |Guaranteed accreditation for graduates |
|3 |Power of suppliers (Low) – Partnership with Pearson education. |0.10 |3.0 |0.30 |An institute that provides valuable information. |
|4 |IT and modern technologies in Abu Dhabi that leads to innovation. |0.10 |4.5 |0.45 |Work will be done in an efficient & effective way. |
|5 |Increase in cash inflow due to greater student enrolment. |0.10 |4.5 |0.45 |An opportunity to contribute to UAE. |
|Threats |
|1 |Mix of Local & Foreign students which creates group isolation. |0.05 |1.1 |0.06 |Lack of teamwork and delay in work. |
|2 |Threat of new entrants (high) – new foreign universities like NYU. |0.15 |4.0 |0.60 |Must Compete on strong accreditation & reputation. |
|3 | Threat of substitutes (high) – price sensitive students. |0.05 |1.0 |0.05 |Encourage students through attractive offers. |
|4 |Supplier switch to another university |0.10 |3 |0.30 |Increase in prices by supplier |
|5 |Foreign universities to launch new majors. |0.10 |3 |0.30 |Less demand by future students |
|Total |1.00 |- |3.76 | |

ADU IFAS, Table-5:

|IFAS |
|1 |Centralization structure. |0.15 |4.5 |0.68 |Maintain a focus on the vision, mission & goals. |
|2 |Backed up by the board of trustees of strong positions in the government. |0.10 |5.0 |0.50 |Opportunity to invest in capacity. |
|3 |Aggressive advertising & informative website. |0.15 |4.0 |0.60 |Increase awareness of students in UAE & the region. |
|4 | Engaging in beneficial investments (Global business development in UK). |0.10 |4.3 |0.43 |Knowledgeable and professional students. |
|5 |Reasonable prices, financial aids and scholarships. |0.10 |3.5 |0.35 |A chance for the needy students. |
|6 |certified by ISO 9001:2008 |0.10 |4.5 |0.45 |Outstanding performance in group divisions & |
| | | | | |departments. |
|Weaknesses |
|1 | Poor Location for the students and staff members. |0.05 |3.3 |0.17 |May not attract new students. |
|2 |Strong accreditation is unavailable (AACSB & ABET). |0.05 |4 |0.20 |Poor competitor. |
|3 |Slow service in admission department |0.10 |3 |0.3 |Delay in achieving objectives. |
|4 |Dormitories are small in size |0.05 |3.5 |0.18 |Less demand will occur by students. |
|5 |Less focus on student activities |0.05 |3 |0.15 |Poor social needs |
|Total | |1.00 |- |4.01 | |

ADU Value Chain Analysis, Figure-4:

|Inbound logistics |ADU is supplied by Pearson books. Moreover, they are being supplied by high speed internet (located only at the business college), Acer computers |
| |&HP/printers, chairs and tables to assist students to work on their education. |
|Operations |Inbound logistics helped registrars, admission officers, teachers and other departments to transfer knowledge and supporting information to students. |
| |Moreover, ADU has transferred all the inputs made by the supplier. |
|Outbound logistics |Inbound logistics and operations resulted in providing a quality outcome for students who are seeking knowledge at ADU. |
|Marketing & Sales |ADU are focusing on television media and posters to increase student awareness. |
|Services |ADU are providing e-services for students and faculty members like the Blackboard to simplify the communication and to save time as well as effort for |
| |students and faculty to send or receive a message, register online, inquiries and emails. |
|Infrastructure |ADU is backed up and funded by a mixture of board of Trustees and investment opportunities. Just like UD, ADU has admission, registration, financial and many |
| |other departments that serve the student and faculty members needs and wants and to accomplish any process a student is going through at ADU. |
|HRM |ADU has the Abu Dhabi University knowledge group which has the same concept of CMPD at UD. ADUKG offer development programs for students, executives and |
| |faculty members. Moreover, ADU has the career office which helps students in their internships and job offerings after they graduate. |
|Technology Development |ADU is up-to-date in IT and latest software programs which shows their concern in transferring knowledge in an effective way. |
|Procurement |ADU kept on increasing its inputs and operated it to create value for their activities. As the number of students increases, the university kept on purchasing|
| |new inputs from different suppliers to meet the demand and number of students and faculty members. |

ADU SFAS Matrix, Figure -5:

|Strategic Factors |Weight |Rate |
|Opportunity (O) |SO Strategies |WO Strategies |
|(O1) Abu Dhabi strong economic performance. |Start online advertisement |Depend mostly on online services to reduce costs. |
|(O2) Recognized by MOHESR |Organic structure in the administration department |Increase in dormitories size |
|(O3) Power of suppliers (Low) – Partnership with Pearson |Partner up with more than one supplier. |Cooperation of student activities with MOHESR. |
|education. | | |
|(O4) IT and modern technologies in Abu Dhabi that leads to | | |
|innovation. | | |
|(O5) Increase in cash inflow due to greater student enrolment. | | |
|Threat (T) |ST Strategies |WT Strategies |
|(T1) Mix of Local & Foreign students which creates group |Involve board of trustees from universities outside UAE. |Empower students to meet demands of other students. |
|isolation. |Maintain tuition fees and salaries. |Create social events. |
|(T2) Threat of new entrants (high) – new foreign universities like|Advertise in other countries of the same region. | |
|NYU. | | |
|(T3) Threat of substitutes (high) – price sensitive students. | | |
|(T4) Supplier switch to another university | | |
|(T5) Foreign universities to launch new majors. | | |

• ADU Implementation, Evaluation and Control, Table -6:

|Implementation, Evaluation and Control |

Strategic factor |Action Plans |Priority system |Who will implement |Who will review |How often review |Criteria used | |Centralization structure. |Maintain & increase in communication. |3 |President |Board of trustees |Annually |Transparency along the hierarchy | |Aggressive advertising & informative website. |Distribute Ads in different locations |4 |Employees at Marketing department |Marketing department |Quarterly |Use different advertising agencies | |Strong accreditation is unavailable (AACSB & ABET). |Acquire strong accreditation from outside UAE. |4 |Deans of colleges at ADU |President |Annually |Apply the accreditation policy | |Abu Dhabi strong economic performance. |Establish career fairs |4 |Employees at Career development office |Head of Career development office |Annually |Research job opportunities | |IT and modern technologies in Abu Dhabi that leads to innovation. |Utilize latest IT for ADU. |3 |IT department |IT department |Semi-Annually |Cooperate with computer suppliers | |Threat of new entrants (high) – new foreign universities like NYU. |Provide development programs |4 |Career development office |Deans of colleges at ADU |Annually |Agreement with strong institutes. | |