His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council, has attended the 2025 commencement ceremony of Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI).
The graduating class comprised 104 students, making it MBZUAI’s largest and most diverse cohort to date. The cohort included 13 PhD and 91 master’s degree graduates across the university’s three specialisations: Computer Vision (CV), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP).
His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan congratulated the graduates on their achievement and honoured several PhD and master’s recipients, wishing them continued success in their academic and professional journeys, encouraging them to apply their knowledge and expertise in advancing the nation’s development and helping to build an innovation-led, technology-driven economy.
His Highness emphasised the UAE leadership’s firm belief that shaping the future begins with knowledge, science, and technological advancement, noting that the UAE continues to strengthen its position as a leading global hub for artificial intelligence (AI) research and development by building an integrated ecosystem that places AI in the service of people and society, while reinforcing national leadership in key strategic sectors.
The ceremony was attended by His Excellency Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, His Excellency Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority and Chairman of MBZUAI’s Board of Trustees, His Excellency Dr Ahmed Mubarak bin Nawi Al Mazrouei, Chairman of the President’s Office for Strategic Affairs and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Office, His Excellency Faisal Abdulaziz Al Bannai, Adviser to the UAE President for Strategic Research and Advanced Technology Affairs, Her Excellency Sara Awadh Musallam, Chairperson of Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge, His Excellency Mansour Ibrahim Al Mansouri, Chairman of the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, His Excellency Ahmed Tamim Al Kuttab, Chairman of the Department of Government Enablement, His Excellency Major General Ahmed Saif bin Zaitoon Al Muhairi, Commander-in-Chief of Abu Dhabi Police, His Excellency Saif Saeed Ghobash, Secretary General of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman of the Office of the Crown Prince, Professor Eric Xing, MBZUAI President and University Professor, Timothy Baldwin, MBZUAI Provost, members of the university faculty, and graduates’ families.
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak congratulated the graduating Class of 2025 in his address at the ceremony, stating: “You are a distinctly exceptional university cohort. Your MBZUAI experience of collaborating across different cultural contexts, languages and mindsets makes you uniquely ready to tackle complex, cross-disciplinary and cross-border challenges. Your ability to understand and champion difference is the shortest path to robust, sustainable, and globally-relevant innovation.”
His Excellency concluded by telling the students: “I encourage you to not just evolve AI, but to guide it — with wisdom, curiosity, and a deep sense of responsibility. Most importantly, be inspired by the ingenuity and resourcefulness that are born out of collaboration and partnership.”
In his speech, Eric Xing, President and University Professor, MBZUAI said: “At MBZUAI, we don’t want to be just another university. We aspire to become a new beacon institution of learning and innovation: one that combines the ambition and scale of big tech, with the rigor and openness of academia. Congratulations to our Class of 2025 as they graduate equipped not just with knowledge, but with the conviction, courage, and capability to lead in this new era.”
This year’s cohort has 20 Emirati graduates including MBZUAI’s first Emirati PhD graduate and eight local female graduates in different AI specialities, underscoring the university’s commitment to cultivating homegrown talent to lead artificial intelligence-related sectors.
Graduates from the Class of 2025 represent 24 countries, including Pakistan, India, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and Italy, as well as first-time graduates from Armenia, Bangladesh, Dominica, Eritrea, Serbia, and Uruguay, underscoring the university’s growing international reach and its commitment to attracting top global talent. The university celebrated an important milestone – its first female PhD graduates, four in total – with women making up 30 per cent of this year’s cohort.
MBZUAI now boasts an expanding alumni network of 316 AI specialists, driving transformation across industries worldwide. To date, 80 per cent of alumni have remained in the UAE for employment, PhD placements and startups to support the nation’s AI supply ecosystem within 12 months of graduation. As the university expands to offer 13 graduate programmes and launches its first undergraduate programme – a Bachelor of Science in AI with Business and Engineering tracks – it continues its mission to shape the future of AI locally, regionally and internationally.
