Ten private schools in the UAE have been ranked among the top 100 in the world by luxury lifestyle magazine Spear’s.
Schools including Brighton College Abu Dhabi and Dubai College were named among the top 15 in the Middle East, which contributes to the annual global list.
Eton College, Cheltenham Ladies' College and Gordonstoun School were among the top schools in the UK, while the Ivy League feeding school Groton School in Connecticut and Harvard-Westlake School in Los Angeles were among the leading institutions in the US.
North London Collegiate School in Dubai was the most expensive day school in the Middle East, with annual fees of up to Dh106,600 ($29,022), data from Spear’s and Carfax Education showed.
Boarding at King’s Academy in Jordan can cost $53,250 a year.
Many of the UK schools on the list segregate boys and girls, while those in the US, Middle East, Asia and Europe are mainly co-educational.
The global rankings includes schools attended by royals, politicians and diplomats.
The ranking is based on formal criteria such as academic results and preparation for university entry, the reputation of the school locally and internationally, and how adequately they prepare pupils for life after education.
Here are the 10 private schools in the UAE listed among the world's best.
The British School Al Khubairat: Dh43,160 to Dh70,630
The British School Al Khubairat has long been considered one of the best in the country and its story began more than 50 years ago.
It focuses on the well-being of pupils and staff and has won global accolades for its mental health programmes.
Former pupils have been accepted at some of the most prestigious universities in the world, including Stanford, Harvard, Oxford and Cambridge.
Fees at the school in Al Mushrif range from Dh43,160 in Foundation Stage One to Dh70,630 in Year 13.
Cranleigh Abu Dhabi: Dh65,000 to Dh96,333
The school places great focus on the pupil well-being, sustainability and community.
Cranleigh has a more than 150-year history in England and its Abu Dhabi site celebrates the many cultures in the country.
Fees at the British curriculum school on Saadiyat Island range from Dh65,000 in Foundation Stage One to Dh96,333 in Year 13.
Brighton College Abu Dhabi: Dh48,900 to Dh77,720
Brighton College UK was founded in 1845. Pupils at the school in Abu Dhabi have gone on to study at the University of Oxford, Imperial College London and the University of St Andrews.
Fees at the British-curriculum school range from Dh48,900 in nursery to Dh77,720 in Year 13.
Dubai College: Dh86,607 to Dh98,070
The British-curriculum school in Al Sufouh is one of the oldest in the city and is considered to be among the best in the emirate.
Founding headmaster Tim Charlton set up the institution in 1978, so British secondary school pupils would not have to return home to continue their education.
Dubai College's fees for Years 7 to 11 are Dh28,869 for every term. Fees for Years 12 and 13 are Dh32,690 a term in the 2022-2023 academic year. There are three terms in a school year.
Jumeirah College: Dh72,988 to Dh91,235
Jumeirah College is a British-curriculum school in Al Safa 1 and has 1,125 pupils from more than 59 countries.
In 2021, pupils received offers to attend universities including Imperial College London, the London School of Economics, the University of Oxford and the University of Melbourne.
Fees at the school range from Dh72,988 for Year 7 to Dh91,235 in Year 13.
Jumeirah English Speaking School: Dh41,829 to Dh93,852
The school follows the British curriculum and is one of the oldest in the emirate. The school has two branches — one in Al Safa 1 and a second in Arabian Ranches.
Jumeirah English Speaking School was started in an apartment in Deira in 1975, when 17 pupils attended. Now the school has more than 1,400 pupils in Arabian Ranches and about 2,000 pupils in Al Safa 1.
Fees at the school start at Dh41,829 for Foundation Stage One and increase to Dh93,852 for Year 13.
Swiss International Scientific School Dubai: Dh53,000 to Dh99,000
The school in Dubai is a bilingual international baccalaureate school that opened in 2015. It is the largest Swiss school outside Switzerland.
About 1800 pupils from more than 100 countries are enrolled. It offers bilingual programmes in the French and German languages, as well as an English programme with foreign languages.
For pupils who do not wish to pursue a fully bilingual programme, there is a Steam programme for children from ages 4 to 11.
Day school fees for pupils for the international baccalaureate programme range from Dh53,000 in pre-kindergarten to Dh99,000.
Day school fees for the international baccalaureate bilingual programme are Dh62,484 in pre-kindergarten to Dh99,000 in Year 12.
Nord Anglia International School Dubai: Dh63,447 to Dh95,946
The British-curriculum school focuses on personalised education and says it ensures pupils develop 21st-century skills.
Pupils have access to projects with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Juilliard School and the UN children's fund.
Fees at the school range from Dh63,447 in Foundation Stage One to Dh95,946 in Year 13.
North London Collegiate School Dubai: Dh66,400 to Dh106,600
North London Collegiate School Dubai is an IB curriculum school.
Fees at the school range from Dh66,400 in pre-kindergarten to Dh106,600 in Year 12.
The school says it focuses on ensuring pupils are challenged in their studies and beyond the syllabus.
Repton School Dubai: Dh52,863 to Dh95,000
The school in Nad El Sheba is one of three branches in the UAE. This branch, founded in 2007, received an outstanding rating on reports from the Dubai Schools Inspection Bureau between 2014 and 2020.
Fees for foundation stage start at Dh52,863. Fees from Years 1 to 6 range from Dh59,754 to Dh70,221 and rise to Dh88,000 for Years 7 to 11.
Fees for Years 12 and 13 are Dh95,000.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
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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.”
Tell Me Who I Am
Director: Ed Perkins
Stars: Alex and Marcus Lewis
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Stage results
1. Julian Alaphilippe (FRA) Deceuninck-QuickStep 4:39:05
2. Michael Matthews (AUS) Team BikeExchange 0:00:08
3. Primoz Roglic (SLV) Jumbo-Visma same time
4. Jack Haig (AUS) Bahrain Victorious s.t
5. Wilco Kelderman (NED) Bora-Hansgrohe s.t
6. Tadej Pogacar (SLV) UAE Team Emirates s.t
7. David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ s.t
8. Sergio Higuita Garcia (COL) EF Education-Nippo s.t
9. Bauke Mollema (NED) Trek-Segafredo s.t
10. Geraint Thomas (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers s.t
Results
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