After two years of operation, MSU’s undergraduate offerings in the Middle East were officially shuttered.

“I didn’t know it had actually closed down. My sister read it in the paper — they didn’t give me any warning at all,” Abbas said. “So I called them and that’s when they told me it was closed.”

Until this time, Abbas, who was born in Saudi Arabia and was at the time of the closing living between his family in Dubai and brother in Pakistan, had been set on attending MSU Dubai. Other institutions in the region did not have the quality of medicine education he desired, he said.

Also, being 17, Abbas’ father did not want to let go of his son just yet. Administrators’ action of taking away the chance of receiving a quality eduction near his family displeased Abbas and his family. He wasn’t alone.

Sumayya Saleh completed her freshman year at MSU Dubai and looked forward to spending the remainder of fulfilling her family community services degree at the institution for the next three years, she said.

Class sizes were ideal — about 85 students were enrolled in MSU Dubai undergraduate programs in their entirety — and professors were available at a moment’s notice.

But it became increasingly obvious to the close-knit students that something at the institution was not right, Saleh said.

“A lot of people used to complain about the small class sizes because the university didn’t seem to get more students,” she said.

Behind the scenes, administrators pulled strings as early as the spring semester to prepare for the very real possibility of undergraduate program cuts and students left behind without a school, said Eric Freedman, associate dean of International Studies and Programs.

“We had a number of meetings and phone calls and e-mail discussions with a variety of units,” he said. “It was more than talk — it was active planning.”

Although it might appear such planning paid off, administrators’ focus internationally has changed after events overseas, Freedman said.

Since July, Abbas convinced his father to let him study in Michigan — he wanted to capitalize on MSU’s relocation incentives for affected students — and is focused on his studies and participating in activities a Spartan would do, even if the temperature is 60 degrees cooler.

“I didn’t like the hot weather and the sandstorms every other day,” he said. “When I got here, I was still overwhelmed. … Now, it’s been no problem after the first couple of days.”

A change in plans

On May 18, 2007, the MSU Board of Trustees unanimously approved a university endeavor into the Middle East, unknowingly pushing forth plans into a worldwide economic recession that would last for about two years.

Jeffrey Riedinger, MSU’s dean for International Studies and Programs, said in a previous interview with The State News that it was not clear anyone could have possibly predicted “the economy would suffer a downturn and MSU Dubai would undershoot enrollment targets” by at least 315 students, costing the university an estimated $1.3 million to $1.7 million.

Yet the relocation efforts to assist students could not have gone better, he said.

For Saleh, the “comfortable environment” of MSU Dubai’s presence in a large building — of which two of its 10 floors were actually used by faculty for about 10 classrooms — was ideal for the time being.

However, the way students were notified they would no longer be able to attain a degree at MSU Dubai was upsetting because of how abrupt it came about, she said.

“At the time, I was pretty upset and not just because the university was closing, but the manner (in which it closed),” Saleh said. “I think me and a couple of other students kind of went into panic mode because it was such short notice.”

Prior to when the announcement of undergraduate program cuts was made July 6, university entities — including MSU Campus Living Services, the Office of the Registrar and Office of Admissions — were notified to expect as many as 85 new students at the East Lansing campus and to accommodate their needs, Freedman said.

“If we (were) going to discontinue the programs, we needed to make sure there were residential halls there for the students,” he said.

“It wasn’t like we woke up one morning and said, ‘We’re going to discontinue tomorrow.’”

Discussions to leave all programs alone or to cut the junior and senior level courses, leaving only introductory courses, all were up for consideration, Freedman said.

Ultimately, all undergraduate programs were cut, with one master’s degree program in human resources and labor relations left for students to take.

After receiving the call from his sister and making another call to the school to check for himself, Abbas did not know how to go about taking the next step toward a degree.

Although he figured he would attend MSU’s East Lansing campus after a year or two upon hearing the news, the notification of cuts began his effort to leave for the U.S., Abbas said.

His family tried to convince him to stay for the time being, but because of university efforts and incentives — and the fact he didn’t want to attend any other university — Abbas relocated to East Lansing in late August after arrangements were made.

“I wasn’t feeling any good feelings toward MSU Dubai because honestly, how would you feel?” Abbas said. “But the faculty and staff were so nice to me because they understood the situation.”

Worldwide relocation

Advanced preparation by officials made for successful relocations in each student’s situation — and for the most part, students agree.

As of mid-September, five students went to the American University of Sharjah, three to the American University in Dubai and two to the Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai.

They were partnerships that MSU built to assist students who wanted to remain in the region. Scholarships, ranging from $300 to $1,500 per semester for up to four semesters were offered to students to attend any one of the three participating universities, Freedman said.

Nine students went to other institutions in the United Arab Emirates, four went to other U.S. institutions, four went to others internationally and the whereabouts of an indeterminate number of students are unknown, he said.

In addition, about 38 students relocated to MSU this fall, four are taking all online courses through MSU in the fall and plan to relocate to the university in the spring.

About 10 will come in either fall or spring, but currently are not taking online courses, Freedman said.

Students who choose to attend MSU are entitled to one round-trip economy class airline ticket per academic year back to either Dubai or their home country, he said.

Former MSU Dubai student Tamara Mohammad Abdul Hadi said in an e-mail in September that the universities’ efforts do not make up for abandoning students after programs were cut without what, she believed, was advanced knowledge.

“Honestly, if you were in our shoes right now and had just experienced this horrible summer where our university shut its doors on us and dismissed us so cold-heartedly and easily, I don’t think you’d be too grateful to be getting a scholarship to a third rate university which anyone with a 1.5 cumulative grade-point average can get into,” she said in the e-mail, referring to the other universities.

Relocating to the U.S. has proved to be no huge issue for most students when culture shock is considered, Freedman said.

“Students (who attended MSU Dubai) were already used to studying in an environment like East Lansing with a mix of international students,” he said.

Abbas missed a few days of orientation in late August because a visa could not be granted quickly enough by the embassy, he said. But with the opportunity to study in Lyman Briggs’ small class sizes — and a friend to get him a cell phone because he’s underage — he would not want it any other way at MSU, Abbas said.

“It started off bad then but now, it’s a lot better,” he said.

On the horizon

Looking ahead, officials see the Middle Eastern institution as still playing a vital role within MSU’s international endeavors and worldwide research initiatives.

John Hudzik, former MSU vice president for global engagement and strategic projects, said in a previous interview that MSU’s push into Dubai was a process years in the making.

Administrators have long recognized the importance of the region not only for the university, but for the world, he said.

Because the United Arab Emirates’ leadership, growing regional influence and culture continues to be an attractive location for MSU in the future, university officials will continue to offer their single master’s program and possibly expand, MSU Dubai Executive Director Kevin Dunseath said in an e-mail.

The College of Social Science, the James Madison College and the Eli Broad College of Business also might begin to offer internship opportunities and offer non-degree executive education programs to people in the region, Dunseath said.

Additionally, a group of MSU freshmen will spend about seven to 10 days at the Dubai campus as part of the Freshman Seminar Abroad program in December, Riedinger said.

“Had we been able to predict the Dubai economy and the world economy (crashing), would we have gone in how we did and when we did it? Of course not,” he said. “In that sense, there were many forces outside our control.”

Although Saleh had always planned to come to the U.S. to study after receiving a degree in Dubai, the cuts expedited those plans.

Saleh said she will transfer to the University of South Florida when her online classes through MSU conclude prior to the start of the spring semester.

“Faculty and administration constantly assured us … (we wouldn’t) have to worry, but all of a sudden, it just ended,” she said.

“I think right now, I’m over it. I figured things out and life goes on.”