NYU’s agreement with the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to create NYU Abu Dhabi is the outcome of a shared understanding of the essential roles and challenges of higher education in the 21st century: a common belief in the value of a liberal arts education, concurrence on the benefits a research university brings to the society that sustains it, a conviction that interaction with new ideas and people who are different is valuable and necessary, and a commitment to educating students who are true citizens of the world.

The following principles are foundational to achieving NYU Abu Dhabi’s vision and fulfilling its mission:

• Dedication to a distinctive global liberal arts education that develops critical thinking, empathy, integrity, leadership, and love of lifelong learning
• Advancement of a new model of global higher education that attracts students from across the world, fostering intercultural understanding and global citizenship
• Passion for discovery, innovation, and the sharing of knowledge
• Commitment to being an anchor institution in and of Abu Dhabi as a dynamic hub for knowledge, culture, and innovation
• Respect for the value of diversity and inclusion, and a commitment to community engagement and ethical responsibility
• Commitment to academic freedom, rooted in the belief that human understanding advances through rigorous study, exchange of ideas, collaboration, interdisciplinarity, encounters with difference, and mutual respect.