A landmark Dubai school backed by $100m in investment has set out its ambitious mission to develop the "classroom of tomorrow", after opening its doors.
The Gems School of Research and Innovation - the UAE's most expensive with fees ranging from Dh116,000 ($31,500) for pupils in Foundation Stage One, to Dh206,000 ($56,000) in Year 12 - is at the forefront of the UAE's super premium education strategy.
The school, which opened for the new academic year in September, was officially inaugurated this week by Sheikh Mansoor bin Mohammed, President of the UAE National Olympic Committee.
The high-tech institution aims to champion artificial intelligence, innovation and sustainability to prepare learners for an evolving global landscape.
“Education remains the cornerstone of our nation’s future, and initiatives such as the Gems School of Research and Innovation play a vital role in preparing the next generation to lead progress with creativity, purpose, and a strong sense of responsibility,” said Sheikh Mansoor.
Sunny Varkey, chairman and founder of Gems Education, spoke of the school's key role in shaping future generations.
“The Gems School of Research and Innovation embodies our belief that the classroom of tomorrow is one where every child is empowered to explore, create and lead," he said.
"SRI represents the very best of our mission to deliver world-class education that prepares students to shape the future."
Top of the class
Spanning more than 47,000 square metres, it features a three-storey Research Hub, which includes robotics labs, extended reality studios, and digital lounges to serve pupils from early years to secondary school.
Each teacher at the school is provided with AI-enabled devices and software, to be used as cutting-edge tools to advance education.
The campus has integrated humanoid and quadruped robotics in learning spaces and is home to an E-sports and game design academy, an F1 and karting engineering lab and a food technology lab equipped with hydroponics and 3D food printing capabilities.
Driving sustainability
The school generates 30 per cent of its power from solar energy and uses smart systems to optimise lighting, ventilation, and energy use.
Rainwater harvesting, low-flow fixtures, and hydroponic gardens further promote sustainability.
The school’s sports amenities include an Olympic-size swimming pool, Fifa-certified football pitch, 400m athletics track and custom-built fencing arena.
It also houses the region’s first all-Steinway Premier Music Academy, offering concert-level instruments and recording studios.
Elite schools to cater to ultra wealthy
Gems Education, one of the world’s biggest private school operators, also has plans to launch a school for the super-affluent in Abu Dhabi.
The “significant reallocation of high-income families” into the Arab world’s second-largest economy, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, has been a “very prevalent trend”, which supports the case for another educational institution for this fast-growing segment of the population, Dino Varkey, chief executive of Gems Education, told The National at the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh last month.
The UK's renowned Harrow School is to launch in Abu Dhabi and Dubai next year.
Harrow International School Dubai will be constructed on a 50,000 square metre plot of land on Hessa Street and will eventually serve up to 2,000 pupils.
It was announced in February that the Abu Dhabi branch would open in the middle of next year, with enrolment beginning in October.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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