Graduation

Graduation ends a set path and opens a wide field of choice. Research suggests that fewer, clearer options and practical help with applications lead to better choices, that ceremonies and last moments are felt deeply, and that a simple if then plan turns goals into action. In the UAE, 31,061 students graduated from universities in 2024 to 2025.

What the report found

1. The UAE is a country of graduates. More than 218,000 students are enrolled at UAE universities, 64,859 new students joined in the last academic year, and 31,061 graduated in 2024 to 2025, across 103 institutions and about 2,500 programmes.
2. Wide choice works best with structure. In one study, students offered six essay topics were more likely to write an essay than students offered thirty. Across 50 experiments, the effect of more options varied widely, so how choices are presented matters.
3. Help with the forms changes lives. In a large field experiment, families who were helped to complete a student aid application saw their children's chance of completing two years of college rise from 28 to 36 per cent. Information alone did not.
4. The ceremony does real work. Anticipation is felt more intensely than memory, rituals help people manage emotion and feel connected, and last experiences are enjoyed more. Graduation is also a fresh start for new goals.
5. A plan turns a goal into action. Across 94 tests, people who decided in advance when, where and how they would act were more likely to reach their goals. A short written goal setting exercise improved the grades of students who were finding university hard.

What is inside

1. The moment
2. Before: choosing what comes next
3. During: the ceremony and the last days
4. After: from intention to action
5. How the moment is lived across the Gulf
6. What lasts

Plus a phase map of the moment, an illustrated graduation season, an if then plan and a data panel of UAE and Gulf figures.

Who it is for

For school leavers, university graduates and their families, and for schools, universities and employers in the UAE and the Gulf.

How we work

Moment Reports look at how people think and decide at particular points in the year or in life, starting with the UAE and then the wider Gulf. Every claim is graded Established, Emerging or Untested, and where researchers disagree, both sides are set out before we say where we stand.

Cite this report

The Why We Project (2026) Graduation: The end of school and the start of choice. Moment Report No. 15. Dubai: Why We Tech Ltd. Available at: thewhyweproject.com