Dubai’s first Chinese international school will open in around two years’ time, as new government statistics show the Emirate’s international schools sector continues to boom. Eleven new private schools have opened in Dubai this year and last year and annual fee revenue has reached 5.35bn AED (US$252m).
Dubai’s private school sector is showing record growth as demand for a quality education in the UAE region continues to swell. Regulating body the Knowledge and Human Development Authority has just announced the two business models which will be accepted for private school operations.
Kerala’s state government is planning to establish an international higher education hub modelled after Dubai International Academic City, the world’s largest free zone dedicated to higher education, to help combat brain drain and attract international students from around the globe, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has announced.
UAE-based alternative asset manager Gulf Capital has announced its first foray into the region's booming education sector with a US$30m investment in one of Dubai's international schools operators, Evolvence Knowledge Investments, to help finance two new schools in the Gulf.
A Canadian university campus in Dubai Knowledge Village that allowed an unlicensed Iranian university to operate from its premises has closed, leaving around 100 students to look for alternative campuses on which to complete their studies.
Almost a third of the world's international school students study in the Middle East, research has shown. The region is home to 1,213 of the world's 7,016 English-medium international schools, teaching over 1 million students.
New statistics from the International School Consultancy Group show that the market is predict to continue to see significant growth in 2014 with numbers reaching 7,200 international school teaching over 3.7 million students in English by the end of the year. Last year, international schools generated US $34 billion in annual fee income.
Authorities in Dubai expect the 2020 World Expo to bring in US$23 billion and to fuel growth across many sectors including education as it becomes the first Middle Eastern city to host the event. With the population predicted to reach two million by 2020 – driven mostly by expats– the demand for quality international schools in the region will only continue to increase.
