Sharjah is a city of learning
and the arts, as confirmed by its 1998 UNESCO
designation as the Cultural Capital of the Arab
World. This context facilitates the university's
intention to be an academic center at the
intersection of ancient cultural traditions and
contemporary intellectual currents. The city of
Sharjah is home to more than 20 museums with
splendid collections of artifacts and art as well as
exhibits on science and natural history. Sharjah
also host many cultural festivals, educational
conferences, fairs and economic expositions. These
resources permit the university to broaden students'
formal education in a way not possible elsewhere in
the region.
Strategically situated between the Far East and the
West, Sharjah is a global trade center. The third
largest of the seven states that form the United
Arab Emirates, Sharjah probably has the most
colorful history of all the Emirates. From the days
of the early trading with the East to the settlement
of the Qawasim seafaring tribe and into the first
half of the 19th century, Sharjah was the most
important port on the lower Arabian Gulf.
It was here that the British chose to set up their
military base and the Trucial Coast's first
international airport was established in 1932. The
flow of oil into the UAE and the recent gas revenue
has sustained Sharjah's modern development. But it
is perhaps the people, a lively trading tradition
and the culture that have created and maintained the
unique flavor of the Sharjah Emirate.
Sharjah has beautiful beaches on the shores of the
Arabian Gulf in the West, and the Gulf of Oman and
Indian Ocean in the East. Sharjah is the only
emirate to have land on both the Arabian Sea and the
Indian Ocean. Geographically, Sharjah emirate covers
approximately 2,600 square kilometers.
