MBZUAI launches online courses to empower admitted students ahead of January 2021 academic year

The Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the world’s first graduate-level, research-based artificial intelligence (AI) university, has launched online courses for its accepted inaugural cohort students ahead of the academic year starting on January 10, 2021. 

The University has recently extended admission offers to 100 students from 31 countries, with nearly 90 per cent of the admitted students having already accepted their offers. Students accepted into the first cohort were selected from a high caliber group of 2,223 applicants of 97 different nationalities.

Taught by MBZUAI faculty members, the courses will provide accepted students with a comprehensive refresher in core subjects required for the programs they will embark upon at the University. Online courses will cover the fundamentals of mathematics and programming. 

While not mandatory, the set of online courses is intended to prepare admitted MBZUAI students for the challenging coursework that they will receive at the University, and to help them perform innovative world-class research. 

Professor Sir Michael Brady, Interim President of MBZUAI, said: “We have selected some exceptional students to join the first academic year at MBZUAI, and we want to ensure that they are able to hit the ground running in January 2021. These online courses, curated by the Office of the Provost and delivered by MBZUAI’s expert faculty, will provide our accepted students with a refresher in the subjects that will form the core of their education at the University. They will also give our first cohort the opportunity to meet their future professors, and to experience the world-class standard of education MBZUAI is committed to providing.” 

Students accepted into the first MBZUAI cohort will study one of four programs: MSc and PhD in Computer Vision, and MSc and PhD in Machine Learning. 

From the start of the academic year, students will enjoy a purpose-built, high-tech and eco-friendly campus in Abu Dhabi’s Masdar City, which includes futuristic smart classrooms and research laboratories, an AI-specialized knowledge center, and recreational facilities. MBZUAI is the first university in the UAE that is implementing Software Defined Architecture towards an agile IT infrastructure, with the deployment of consistent services.