An independent multicultural educational institution in Dundee, the Al-Maktoum College of Higher Education was founded in 2001 as the Al-Maktoum Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, changing its name in 2011. Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum (b.1945), Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance of the United Arab Emirates, the College works to build educational, cultural and business links between Scotland and Dubai. It occupies the former St. Joseph's Roman Catholic School on Blackness Road, which was designed by local architect J.H. Langlands in 1905-06, extended in 1933 and later became an annexe for the Dundee College of Commerce.
One of the small number of private colleges of higher education in the UK, it views itself as a centre of excellence that aims to promote intelligent debate and understanding of Islamic tradition and Muslim societies in the contemporary world. Drawing students from the UK, Europe and around the world, the College offers postgraduate programmes of study in fields such as Arabic and Islamic Studies; Multiculturalism; Islamic Law and Muslims, Globalisation and the West.
Labour peer Lord Elder of Kirkcaldy (b.1950) was appointed Chancellor in 2003. Controversy resulted from disagreements between senior management and the sacking of the College Principal in 2011.
Constituted as a not-for-profit educational charity, the College works closely with College of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Aberdeen, and it is the University of Aberdeen which validates its degree programmes, although this arrangement was due to terminate in 2012.
