It is hardly a secret that the United Arab Emirates has recruited universities from around the world to set up outposts in the Persian Gulf. Less well known is that it is also tapping Western academics to run its public higher-education system. Westerners are also filling key positions on the faculty at these institutions and in government agencies. These academics are working closely with government officials to fundamentally change the higher-education system in the country's seven emirates. Foreign academics are so deeply involved in the public higher-education system here that one former law professor says it is as if entire universities had been purchased overseas and reassembled in the desert. While this shift has deeply concerned some Emirati professors, who complain that they are being forced to take a back seat to foreigners, the trend is likely to accelerate. As the United Arab Emirates and other gulf nations continue to import more branch campuses and other academic programs from the West, that puts even more pressure on indigenous universities to keep up with the competition.