When the United Arab Emirates (UAE) achieved independence in December 1971, few would have thought that the seven emirates which made up this country would be a propitious place for the creation of several higher education hubs. The population of this small country was approximately 220,000 and the national citizens had little experience with formal education. Yet, as of this writing in May 2017, an estimated 9.3 million people now live within the Emirates (World Population Review 2017), and the government has created three federal institutions of higher education while accrediting more than 50 new private and semi-private universities or colleges. The total enrolment of students in tertiary education is more than 120,000 (Badry and Willoughby 2015). This development was not the result of a centralized policy. Rather, the unusual federal structure of this new country permitted a more experimental approach to the challenges which higher education...