IXO stands for International Exchange Office. You can email us any time at [email protected].

When you are accepted to AUS, you will receive an email that provides your student identification number (i.e., AUS ID#), as well as your AUS username and temporary password. The AUS ID# will always have the following format:@000#####.You will notice that your AUS username will have a similar format, except that it will start with b (for boy) or g (for girl), instead of the @ symbol. Please be aware: when you complete your online AUS application, the online application system will automatically generate a system ID# (typically, six numbers, and they do not start with 000).THIS IS NOT YOUR AUS ID#. Please don’t confuse it with the AUS ID# that you have been sent in that initial AUS email.

When you are accepted to AUS, you will be sent an AUS ID# and a temporary password. You will need to log in and change the password within a specified period of time, and when you do, you will be asked to provide some security questions and answers. After that, you can go to passwords.aus.edu to re-set your password at any time. If for any reason you find you still are unable to access your AUS email and Banner account, please have a look at the IT FAQ. If all else fails, please contact [email protected].

Please email us at [email protected], and we will re-set that for you.

We request that students fly into either Sharjah International Airport (SHJ, which is located just across the street from AUS, about a 5-10 minute drive), or into Dubai International Airport (DXB, which is located in Dubai about a 20- to 25-minute drive from campus).

Airfare is the student’s responsibility.

Emirates Airlines is the home airline for DXB, and Air Arabia is the home airline for SHJ. You are most likely to find direct flights with these two airlines. DXB especially is served by a wide range of carriers, and you may find bargains if you shop around. Some students traveling from the US prefer to have a stopover in Europe on their way, to break up the 13 to 16 hour flight.

Students will complete the initial visa application through their online study abroad application at AUS. Students can expect to receive a temporary visa via email about two weeks prior to their arrival to AUS, and should bring this temporary visa with them IN THEIR HAND LUGGAGE, so that it can be stamped by Passport Control upon entering the UAE.

During the Orientation Week, IXO will assist students in completing the official visa process, by taking them to the Immigration Office for a blood test and chest x-ray. Students (other than API) should bring approximately 1,000 AED ($271) along with them for this process. At the same time that students apply for their final visa (which will be affixed to their passports), they will also apply for an Emirates ID (required for all UAE residents).Students will not have access to their passports between the time they visit the Immigration Office and the time they receive their final visa, typically about two weeks. Students should refrain from booking any travel out of the UAE until they receive their passports back from Immigration.

Anyone bringing prescription medications into the UAE must complete an online Permission to Import Medicines for Personal Use form. Please be sure to follow all of the directions on this government webpage, and please be sure to check that your medications are allowed prior to your entry. Be aware that some commonly used over-the-counter herbal medicines (such as Melatonin) are not allowed in the UAE. If you have any questions about what is/isn’t allowed, please contact us at [email protected], and we will check with our on-campus Health Clinic. Always bring your signed prescriptions along with you.

If you provide us with your travel itinerary, we will arrange for you to be picked up by an AUS driver at either DXB or SHJ airport, free of charge. Please note that we do not provide airport pickup from Abu Dhabi. You can find the driver just outside the Customs area, and he will be holding an AUS sign up for you. If for any reason you do not find the driver, follow the airport taxi signs and you can take a taxi to AUS for approximately 85 AED ($23USD). tell the driver you need to go to Sharjah’s University City, and that it is across from the Sharjah International Airport on Sharjah’s Airport Road. Once you get on campus, go to either to the men’s or women’s dorms (as appropriate) and check in with the dorm supervisor at the front reception of your assigned dorm.

Pick up your IXO backpack from the dorm reception, settle into your room, get some sleep if you need to, and, if you feel up to it, visit IXO during normal working hours (8:30 to 5:30 p.m.). IXO is in the Main Building, on the Ground Floor, MG50 and the adjacent corridor. Your IXO backpack will contain a Welcome Guide, and the Welcome Guide will contain a map of the AUS campus, so you can look up the location of the Main Building there—or ask your dorm supervisor or anyone else to point you in the right direction. IXO is a great place to meet the IXO Team and to begin to meet other study abroad students. The campus will feel very empty when you first arrive, as study abroad students arrive quite early prior to the beginning of the semester. Don’t worry—things will begin to be much busier in the following week!

You will have access to free WiFi in your dorms and across campus. Please check here for information on how to connect.

Walk in the shade, wear sunscreen and a hat, plan your route so you are walking through our air-conditioned buildings, drink a LOT of water, and only exercise outdoors after the sun goes down. The sun goes down year round between 5:30 and 7 p.m., and throughout the UAE you will find it is very safe to be outside after dark. Most places are very well lit, anyway. Pace yourself when you first arrive—you may need some time to acclimate to the UAE temperatures!

Yes, all incoming study abroad students are covered by Health Plan II, which provides access to the AUS University Health Clinic services. The AUS campus also has a pharmacy in the Student Center. In addition, the University City teaching hospital and dental hospital are both located just outside University City gates, about a five-minute drive from campus. University City is served by a dedicated ambulance system. All incoming study abroad students are required to purchase comprehensive international travel and health insurance that provides coverage during the entire period of their study abroad experience at AUS.

IXO runs a nine-day intensive orientation that will keep you busy and help you to get up to speed with the region and the culture very quickly. The orientation week will typically go as follows:

• Thursday:  Most students will arrive on a Thursday.
• Friday:  Orientation will officially begin on the Friday late afternoon, during a Welcome Session for New Students and their parents. This will include a free dinner, and you will have a chance to get to know the other study abroad students and the IXO Team. 
• Saturday:  This session will focus on building the group as a team and on providing cultural tips and information. We will have an all-items-free yard “sale” to help students gear up for their dorm, and will provide breakfast and lunch. An evening outing to a large local shopping mall provides students with an opportunity to purchase other needed supplies, to get a UAE-based phone number (necessary for the visa process), have dinner and explore. 
• Sunday:  Students will meet with our IXO Advisor to review practical information at AUS, and then will go for an afternoon outing to the Arabian Wildlife Center. 
• Monday:  Day out in Sharjah. 
• Tuesday:  Practicalities Day for students to visit the Health Clinic, Sports Complex, AUS Cashier, and campus bank to complete necessary tasks, and during the afternoon we will hold a gender-specific information session. 
• Wednesday:  Day out in Old Dubai, including a traditional Emirati lunch and mosque visit. 
• Thursday:  Outing to Immigration to complete the visa process, and then to a different local mall for lunch. In the evening, we will take you to the Dubai Mall, famous for spectacular views of the Burj Khalifa, the Dubai Fountain, the Dubai Aquarium, the Dubai Dino and more. 
• Friday:  This is the day of worship in the UAE. Students will enjoy a day to themselves.
• Saturday: We will end the orientation program with an afternoon at a Dubai beach. 
• Sunday: Classes begin. The workweek is Sunday–Thursday in the UAE. About a week later:  IXO will offer a dinner/mixer to introduce students to a variety of invited AUS students, faculty and staff.

This will depend on what programs you are coming to AUS through. The current tuition and fees schedule is available in the Payment Guides for each semester. If you are studying at AUS via:

• API or ISEP-Direct: You will have paid all your fees directly to those organizations, and you shouldn’t have to pay many fees to AUS at all, except for things such as course packets, Metro shuttle tickets, and possibly lab/technical fees (depending on the mix of courses you are taking). ISEP-Direct students will also have to pay for their visas. 
• ISEP Exchange: You will have paid all your fees at your home university, and should only have to pay those fees mentioned above upon arrival at AUS (e.g., course packets, shuttle tickets, lab/technical fees, visa fees).
• Bilateral Partners: You will have to pay all the normal AUS fees other than tuition, including:  IXO outings and events fee, AUS activities fee, health clinic usage fee, dorm fee, utilities service fee, possibly lab/tech fees (depending on the mix of courses you are taking), possibly course packets, Metro shuttle tickets, and visa fees. You can see the list of our bilateral partners here.
• Visiting Student (direct enroll): You will need to pay the same fees as the bilateral partners, plus tuition.

You will need to pay your fees by the end of the first week of classes.

General information about the AUS dorms is available here. You can learn more about dormitory facilities here.

Yes, the curfew will be 12 midnight on weekdays (i.e., Sundays through Thursdays) and 1 a.m. on weekends (Fridays and Saturdays). With their guardian’s permission, students can check out of the dorms on the weekends.

AUS does not offer formal meal plans. However, every dorm room will feature a kitchenette, with a larger shared kitchen in the dorm hallway. AUS has a grocery store located in the Student Center on campus, as well as a convenience store at the Women’s Dorms. There is also a regular free shuttle bus from AUS campus to several nearby mini-malls containing grocery stores. In addition, there are a number of restaurants and cafes located on campus. Finally, University City is surrounded by cafes and restaurants that will be more than happy to deliver meals to dorms on campus. For budgeting purposes, students should expect to spend approximately 23.5 AED ($6.40 USD) per meal.

AUS offers a Club Fair during the second or third week of every semester, and we encourage study abroad students to sign up for as many as possible, so that they will receive all the various and many invitations to cultural meals, movies, outings, etc. You will find a wide range of ethnic/national clubs and interest-oriented clubs.

Absolutely, yes. Some students do a part-time internship during their study abroad semester, and others arrange a full-time internship in Sharjah/Dubai/Abu Dhabi for the summer or following semester. You will need to apply through IXO if you want to extend your stay to complete an internship. We can discuss that with you when you arrive. In order to find an internship, we encourage you to visit the SBA Internship and Placement Office upon your arrival, and to sign up on their online application portal.

You will not be able to work as a student employment via the AUS Student Employment Office, unfortunately. However, there may be opportunities for you to work as a teaching assistant. If you are interested in this kind of employment, we encourage you to talk with your AUS professors early on in your study abroad semester to express your interest in working with them (or their colleagues) in this manner.

Yes. You will find a section in our Welcome Guide (provided in the backpack you will pick up at dorm reception upon your arrival) about various volunteering opportunities available across campus. In addition, we have had prior study abroad students who have volunteered in the local community, such as with disability organizations, elderly care facilities and other organizations.

You will provide a list of desired courses as part of your online IXO application, and we will do our level best to register you into those prior to your arrival. Once you’ve arrived, IXO will continue working with you to register you into a full load of 4 to 5 courses (i.e., 12 to 16 credits). Please be aware that the add/drop period is very short here at AUS, and you will only have the first three days of classes to make any final adjustments to your course schedule.

Many study abroad students comment that the courses here at AUS are more challenging than the courses at their home universities. Faculty employ a wide range of teaching techniques, including lectures, in-class group work, group projects, flipped learning, labs and more. You should find the approach to learning very familiar if you are coming from a US-based university or system. However, many students comment that there are typically more assessments in AUS courses then what they are used to back home. Typically, courses have about 15 to 20 students, and use a Blackboard system called iLearn for course materials. We do have an attendance policy at AUS. Students are not allowed to miss more than 15 percent of class sessions. Classes typically operate on a Sunday-Tuesday-Thursday or Monday-Wednesday schedule, and students will receive a total of 45 contact hours in each of their 3-credit classes.

You will be spoiled for choice! AUS offers wellness/fitness programs, team sports, club activities, performing arts, lectures and presentations, and numerous other events throughout the academic year. Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi are always growing and changing, and new attractions and activities are coming on line every year. In your Welcome Guide (you will find it in the backpack you receive upon arrival at the dorms), you will find several lists of inexpensive but enjoyable activities that we recommend during your time here. In addition, please be aware that throughout the semester, and especially during the cooler months, IXO will offer a busy program of outings and activities for you, including outings to Oman, Abu Dhabi, Global Village and much more. Here are some videos about our desert safari trip, our trip to the top of Burj Khalifa, and our outing to Lebanon Island at The World Islands in Dubai. You can also watch an overview of the events and outings we held for our Fall 2018 incoming students.

It is very likely that the UAE has a significantly different culture from your home country. We recommend that you do your homework prior to arrival. Sharjah is one of the most conservative of the seven emirates. Alcohol and pork products will not be available, and there is a dress code requiring that both men and women cover their shoulders and to below their knees, and avoid clothing that is see through, low cut, or overly clingy. It is generally a good idea to avoid hand gestures until you have a good sense of what works and what doesn’t in this culture—some hand gestures can lead to serious legal problems. Students must avoid taking photos of people without their permission, and also avoid taking photos of military installations, police stations, bridges, airports, etc. Illicit drugs are strictly forbidden and will lead to significant jail time. Avoid public conversations about religion or the government. Relationships between men and women are significantly different in the UAE, for example, signs of overt affection between men and women are not allowed. The UAE has strict policies about posting to social media, and ever stricter road regulations with significant fines attached. We cover the many cultural “dos and don’ts” in our Welcome Guide (provided upon arrival to the dorms) and during our orientation. We recommend that you spend your first few weeks in the UAE quietly observing, and taking the lead from locals and long-standing expats. You can also watch this video for an overview of the basic health, security, and safety issues to keep in mind when studying at AUS and living in the UAE.