The American University of Sharjah (AUS) says it will press ahead with its new policy of charging a fee each term for textbooks despite opposition from students.
From the start of the new academic year later this month, undergraduates will have to pay Dh1,250 (US$340) a term in advance, which can only be used to buy books from the university's bookshop. Any surplus can be carried over into the following year, but only once.
The policy has been introduced to ensure that students buy textbooks instead of photocopying them.
In total, undergraduates will have to pay Dh2,500 per academic year, in addition to tuition fees of Dh73,220 and other costs, such as laboratory fees.
Students have set up a Facebook group in opposition to the initiative, which was introduced on the recommendation of AUS deans.
Sanjoy Noronha, an Indian, who recently completed a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at AUS, said he spent between Dh800 and Dh1,200 per year on textbooks. "I managed to use textbooks my friends had but didn't need anymore," he said.
"Students are already complaining about it. Many don't spend at all on textbooks - most things are on Powerpoint and slides."
Mr Noronha conceded, however, that some students did photocopy textbooks, especially if they only needed one chapter.
Another student to recently complete a course at AUS, Tahir Ratlamwala, from Pakistan, who is now about to begin a master's degree at the university, said that as an undergraduate he would share textbooks with fellow students.
"Each book costs Dh300 or Dh350 and we would take six courses, and we cannot afford that much," he said. "Each person would buy one and we would share the book."
He said, to reduce costs, he would use online textbooks, cutting his annual expenditure to Dh500. "It's not fair at all," he said of the new scheme.
Dr Peter Heath, the AUS chancellor, said he would have been "disappointed" if students had not complained. "You want students to complain," he said. "You don't want them to just roll over. That's how you improve the policy."
He said previous measures to control "prevalent enough" copyright violations had failed because of lax enforcement and student inertia.
"Faculty have exhorted students to buy their books for many years, but the results have not been fruitful," he said.
Additionally, he said, faculty members were "reluctant" to become classroom police.
He insisted the measure was not intended as a way of extorting money from students.
Rather, he said, the purpose was to ensure proper adherence to academic fair use and international copyright laws.
However, other university professionals called for the relaxation of the rules.
Ayesha Appique, co-ordinator for the interior design department at Preston University Ajman, said students there were given photocopied handouts because "they're not going to utilise the whole book".
"We don't want to pressure the students," she said. "We don't feel justified in having them buy the book."
Dr Heath said AUS was willing to consider giving students bookstore vouchers in exchange for used textbooks once it was apparent how many students were willing to return them.
But he added: "What we won't deviate from is trying to protect copyright.
"We feel it's a lesson that students here should learn."
dbardsley@thenational.ae
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Student Of The Year 2
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
