The private education sector in Dubai continues to grow at a healthy pace, with 7 per cent increase in student enrolment over the last five years.
Dubai to have 100 more schools by 2020
Dubai: Dubai will have at least 100 new private schools over the next few years as prominent foreign educational institutions continue to make a beeline for the city, according to a study released during the Education Investment Mena conference on Monday.
“Education was the only sector that continued to grow even during recession and considering the consistent growth over the last decade our study projects a 60 per cent rise in the number of students and schools by 2020,” said Dr Abdullah Al Karam, Chairman of the Board and Director General of Knowledge and Human Development Authority Dubai (KHDA), speaking to Gulf News on the sidelines of annual conference.
Dubai currently has 225,000 pupils studying at 153 private schools spread across different curriculums catering to various nationalities. At least 140,000 more seats will be needed by 2020.
“Since 2007/08 academic year, we have had 5-6 new schools opening every year,” said Dr Al Karam. “Over the last five years 30 new schools have opened and going by this rate our study projects Dubai will have 110 new schools by 2020. This is without taking into consideration the potential of Expo 2020 or other events.”
At Dh4.1 billion, the private education sector is one of the biggest and most unique in the world in that it caters to such a diverse population.
“Dubai is by far the most developed market of private [education] and it has a great potential to grow further, thanks to a balanced regulatory environment and ever-growing presence of expatriate population,” said Ashwin Assomull, a partner at The Parthenon Group, which advises private schools and carries out educational surveys.
The most unique feature of the Dubai education sector that helps drive its growth is the fact that 88 per cent of Dubai students study at private schools, boosting demand for private education year on year.
“What is unique about Dubai along with Singapore is the fact that there is a dedicated government body like KHDA to look after the needs and requirements of private schools,” said Assomull. “In most cities all schools are regulated by ministries. In Dubai, the dedicated regulatory environment helps keep the balance in serving the interests of all concerned, including parents, students, teachers and investors.”
What is even more interesting is the fact that private education is considered one of the cheapest when compared to other similar cities in the world.
The study reveals that 45 per cent of the schools charge around Dh10,000 annually in tuition fees, while only 12 per cent schools charge more than Dh40,000 annually.
“This is against the general perception that schools in Dubai are expensive,” said Assomull, who works with educational institutions around the world. “On the contrary what I see is that there are huge variety of schools in Dubai, including premium schools, but the fee is well regulated and any hike is linked to the quality improvement of the school.”
Read more: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/education/dubai-to-have-100-more-schools-by-2020-1.1245440
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