• “The UAE has always recognised that quality education is key to overall social and economic development. It is precisely because of this reason that the Government has been consistently increasing its budget allocation for the education sector every year. The 2008 UAE federal budget, with an outlay of Dh 34.9 billion allocated close to 30% towards education, reiterating the country’s commitment towards shaping a knowledge –based society.” (Website Education Show Sharjah http://www.educationshow.ae).
• “Today, the UAE offers a comprehensive education to all male and female students from kindergarten to university, with education for the country’s citizens being provided free at all levels” (UAEInteract http://www.uaeinteract.com/education)
• “Much has been achieved since the early 1970s but efforts are now being made to improve the educational environment for all pupils, in line with a re-evaluation of the role of government. In particular, the Abu Dhabi Educational Council (ADEC, http://www.adec.ac.ae), is spearheading privatisation of the education sector in Abu Dhabi” (UAEInteract http://www.uaeinteract.com/education). For more information on the planned educational reforms in the UAE, please have a look at the United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 228-236 at http://www.uaeinteract.com/uaeint_misc/pdf_2008/index.asp (for download)
• “As part of the country’s Emiratisation policies, there is a requirement to provide meaningful employment opportunities for an increasing number of nationals, with a corresponding increase in demand for vocational education including English instruction”. (Holly:7)

Educational Market and Opportunities for Publishers

• 38,1% of citizens are less than 14 years old, 51,1% are less than 20 years old. There are enormous and increasing demographic pressures on basic educational provision. (UAE Yearbook 2008, p. 225)
• “The UAE education sector, particularly the area of higher education, has of late been experiencing rapid expansion. This may be attributed to several factors including rise in student in-take in public schools, fall in drop-out rates, government’s strong emiratisation drive, and the country’s growing expatriate population.” (Website Education Show Sharjah http://www.educationshow.ae)
• “At the start of the 1999/2000 academic year, 336,135 students enrolled in over 640 government schools throughout the country.”(http://www.uae.gov.ae/government/education.htm)
• An estimated number of 10,000 pupils graduate from UAE schools each year. From this, a large number are keen to pursue tertiary education (Website Education Show Sharjah http://www.educationshow.ae).
• The Private Sector represents a ‘rapidly expanding area, with demand from both the Emirati and expatriate communities for tuition at all price points’ (Holly: 18)
• English is the key language of international commerce and the internet; its importance is reflected in the attention devoted to the subject at all levels of the educational system, and in the stated requirements for employment by most companies.” (Holly)
• Market for British books in the UAE – The open economy of the UAE offers both an attractive growth market for foreign companies and a stable base from which to operate in the region. Although well behind Saudi Arabia as a market for UK exports, the UAE is the Middle East’s largest export market for non-military goods. (Holly)
• Book Purchasing – Some institutions have a supply contract with a chosen distributor; other institutions are putting book orders out to competing bids. (Holly:21)
• Copyright/Censorship – Less restrictive business practice in general, greater adherence to world standard trading regulations on matters such as copyright protection, and in particular the relative ease with which publications of all kinds can be imported and sold in the Emirates. (Holly:8)

State Schools

• Number of state schools academic year 2004/2005 – 875 (125 Kindergarten, 300 Primary, 250 Lower Secondary, 200 Upper Secondary) (Holly: 26)
• Biggest opportunity in this segment for publishers of ELT course books and supplementary materials, such as graded readers and dictionaries (Holly)
• In government ‘model schools’ there is smaller potential for both ELT and UK or US education materials in English, Maths and Science (Holly:)

Private Schools

• Over 40 % of pupils attend private schools. (United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 228)
• Number of schools in 2004 – numbers differ between 1325 (415 Kindergarten, 420 Primary, 290 Lower Secondary, 200 Upper Secondary) and 450 licensed private schools in total. (Holly: 27)
• Arabic-medium schools – Greatest potential for ELT publishers since Arabic is the main language for instruction and English is taught as a foreign language using ELT course books (Holly)

Higher Education

• Three main federal institutions catering for over 30,000 Emirati students:
  • UAE University (in Al Ain, ca. 16,000 students, http://www.uaeu.ac.ae); some courses taught in Arabic
  • Higher Colleges of Technology – HCT (expanded to 16 segregated campuses countrywide; more than 16,000 students, http://www.hct.ac.ae); all tuition in English
  • Zayed University (2 campuses for around 3,200 students in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, http://www.zu.ac.ae); all tuition in English
• “The HCTs (Higher Colleges of Technology) commercial arm, The Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (Cert, http://www.certonline.com) , which was founded in 1997 and is now the largest private education provider in the region, prides itself on responding quickly and effectively to current needs in the regional and international work place, providing professional development and lifelong learning opportunities for the UAE, the Gulf, and – through online training courses – to many other parts of the business world.” (United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 240f)
• Rapid expansion of the private sector, with a large number of institutes and colleges, as well as private universities. Several of these organisations are affiliated to parent institutions in the UK, the USA, India, Lebanon and Australia. Most of them are less than 10 years old. The Knowledge Village initiative at Dubai Internet City has brought a new influx of academic providers into the country, including the British University in Dubai. (Holly: 30)
• “Private universities offer a wide range of tertiary-level opportunities in the UAE. Notable institutions include the American Universities of Sharjah and Dubai, Sharjah University and the Ajman University of Science and Technology.” (United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 242)
• “Abu Dhabi University (ADU), with campuses in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, is one of the newer private institutions. ADU has over 44 nationalities in its student population and is continuously cultivating associations with prominent educational institutions worldwide and offering joint programes with a large number of international universities.” (United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 242)
• Further private academic institutions: Al Hosn University in Abu Dhabi (opened in 2005 and supported by Abu Dhabi Holding Company), Sorbonne University in Abu Dhabi (established in 2006, wholly owned by ADEC), Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Centre for Science and Technology at the Institute of Applied Technology in Dubai (opened in 2007) (United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 243)
• “Dubai Knowledge Village, a member of TECOM Investments, has launched Dubai International Academic City (DIAC), the world’s only free zone dedicated to international higher education. (…) Nearly 20 international institutes of higher learning from Australia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Belgium, UK and Ireland have already set up base at DIAC, catering to over 8500 students. On completion DIAC will be able to accommodate 20 to 30 universities and house between 30.0000 and 40.000 students…” (United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 243f)
• In most private sector institutions, the language of instruction is English. (Holly: 31)
• Almost all the universities have some form of intensive English Programme for potential undergraduates prior to commencing faculty studies. (Holly: 31)
• This segment can be extremely lucrative for educational publishers, given that most of the major purchases are placed through a relatively transparent tender process. (Holly: 31)
• High demand for academic text books and ELT texts. (Holly)

Adult Education and Vocational Training

• Rising demand for English, computing and business skills in both Emirati and expatriate communities (Holly)
• “In addition to the higher level institutions outlined above, the UAE also has several vocational and technical educational centres for those seeking practical career training. These include the Emirates Institute for Banking and Finance, the Dubai School of Government, Etisalat’s colleges and university, Etihad’s training centre, The Emirates Aviation College for Aerospace and Academic Studies and the Petroleum Institute.” (United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 244)
• “Education Providers:
  • Private Institutes (British Council Centres; ELS Middle East Centres; International House Branches; Berlitz, etc.)
  • Companies (Abu Dhabi National Oil Corporation ADNOC; Dubai Aviation College)
  • Military (largest facility for training: Technical Studies Institute at Shahama)” (Holly)

Foundations

• The Emirates Foundation, launched in 2005, “is mandated to foster a philanthropic culture of public private partnership by fundraising and managing donations to develop and support community activities in the following areas: Education, Arts and Culture, Research and Development, and Social and Environmental Development.” (United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 245)
• Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai has created the UAE-based US$ 10 billion Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation to help to build a knowledge-based society throughout the region. The fund, which will be run as an investment trust, will finance educational initiatives and support government projects through scholarships, scientific research, development of teaching staff capabilities and improvement of educational infrastructure.” (United Arab Emirates Yearbook 2008, p. 245)

Sources

• Peter Holly; United Arab Emirates Publishing Market Profile, The Publishers Association UK & British Council 2005
• UAE Government http://www.uae.gov.ae/government/education.htm
• UAEInteract http://www.uaeinteract.com/education