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29 March 2024

Dubai private school fee range: Dh144 to Dh100,000

Number of children from the Middle East attending British boarding schools has doubled in the past 12 months (File)

Published
By Shuchita Kapur

In the last few years Dubai’s education sector has witnessed significant and rapid development. The growth is primarily led by local operators but also latterly by a number of major international, mostly UK, operators who are capitalising on the significant opportunities that it represented.

The Dubai Education Overview issued by Colliers International, a real estate services provider including healthcare and education, shows the bright future of Dubai education sector and its growing demand.

The study identified population growth as one of the key factors driving demand for education in Dubai, with the population expected to reach 3.5 million by 2020.

The findings also highlight that tuition fees charged by private schools in Dubai vary significantly in terms of curricula, type and quality of facilities offered, and staffing standards.

Private schools charge from as low as Dh1,725 per year (or Dh143.75 per month) up to the most expensive school in Dubai with a tuition fee in excess of Dh100,000 per annum.

American schools command the highest range fees followed by IB, British and then Indian.

Almost 60 per cent of student population across all grades pay an average of Dh15,000 per annum, the report maintains.

Posh premises

The report also estimates that the value of properties owned by Dubai’s private schools reached $6.1 billion (Dh22.4bn) in 2014, and is estimated to reach over $8.1bn (Dh29.75bn) by 2020.

At the UAE level, the value of the private institute’s property alone is projected to reach $18.8bn (Dh69.05bn) by 2020.

Other identifiable factors supporting growth include: a large concentration of Generation X, Y (Millennials) and Z (school-going age) as 11.5 per cent of total population are of school going age;  increasing income levels enabling parents to pay higher tuition fees and the high returns on correctly executed education investment.

Packed classrooms

The report reveals that in Dubai the average number of students in a school varies based on the curriculum, size, tuition fees and facilities it offers.

The Indian average is 2,683 students, British 1,338 students, American 1,479 students, and IB average 1,153 students per school.

Highlighting the demand for junior schools the report identifies the percentage of students at the various grades; Foundation Stage 19.2 per cent, Primary 42 per cent, Preparatory 24.6 per cent and Secondary 14.2 per cent.

“In the last decade, the private education sector has witnessed significant growth; doubling enrolment figures and introducing additional supply, which increased the competitive edge within the market.

“This trend is expected to continue in the near future and by 2020 Dubai will need an additional 77,000 student places translating into 51 new schools. This will require investment of an estimated $2 billion,” the report states.

Teacher turnover

However, a number of issues remain to be addressed, especially retaining and attracting quality human resources which is the single greatest challenge faced by private school operators in the UAE.

The major challenge facing operators is the ability to attract and retain quality staff in order to deliver on the promise of quality educational services.

With the rapid growth operators desperate to recruit appropriate specialised staff have engaged in a cycle of recruiting from local competitors, this has been driving up salaries often beyond the concurrent increases the schools can charge in fees as the fee increases are capped by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority.

Effective international recruitment process is imperative in order to achieve operational success, says the report.