Gulf countries will struggle to meet rocketing demand for private education unless they take steps to reassure potential investors in new schools
Gulf countries will struggle to meet rocketing demand for private education unless they take steps to reassure potential investors in new schools, according to a new study.
A new report on the prospects for the region's fee-paying education issued yesterday by consultant Booz & Company says a lack of transparency on issues such as construction zoning and tuition fees will be a challenge to the Gulf as demand for private education doubles by 2020.
The firm's look into the "coming expansion of the private school market" in the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) - which includes the UAE - forecasts that the number of students at private schools will increase from approximately 1.36 million today, to 2.6 million by 2020. But for that to happen, the region must overcome "a lack of transparency and consistency regarding regulations," the study's authors note.
Major international investors coming to the region face several hurdles. Several Gulf countries still prohibit the foreign ownership of property, meaning investors looking to build a school can't count on a mortgage. Another challenge is the how tuition fees are governed - while operators are permitted to set their own fees in most of the region, they must get approval from education regulators if they want to increase them. This could deter potential investors.
"Although government regulation of tuition fees originated to protect consumers in a market where they had few choices, those policies may now be limiting consumers' choices by keeping investors from opening new schools," the report notes. Education authorities also need to work more closely with urban-planning agencies to "ensure sufficient quantity, location and size of plots for education" and "avoid the relegation of schools to inconvenient locations."
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