ABU DHABI // A school has asked parents to pay thousands of dirhams in extra charges after it was ordered to refund an unauthorised increase in its tuition fees.
The British International School in Abu Dhabi said a 5 per cent fee increase last year was communicated to the regulator, Abu Dhabi Education Council. Adec said the increase was not authorised, and ordered a refund to parents.
The school then announced it would then impose a new maintenance charge of Dh2,000 for each pupil and a non-refundable entry fee of Dh2,500 for year 1 and Dh9,000 for other grades.
Adec said those new charges were illegal. "We have communicated with the school principal and asked her to stop the collections as further action will be taken against the school," the regulator said yesterday.
Last night in a new memo from the school principal Lesley Ann-Wallace said parents would now only be invoiced for Adec tuition charges.
She wrote: "As such, your customer account will be readjusted from the invoice sent to you recently. This re-credit will ensure that the fees you pay are compliant with Adec's regulations and we will continue to work with Adec to strategise for the future to ensure fee structures supposted continued investment."
The school said the additional charges were intended to fund an expansion and new sports facilities.
Before the climbdown parents had voiced their displeasure at the fee hike.
Leena Abdullah, a Jordanian mother, said: "It is not our duty nor our concern if they are doing maintenance, buying extra toys, repainting or opening new classes. This has nothing to do with our son."
Ms Abdullah has already started looking for other schools in Abu Dhabi for her seven-year-old.
"But sadly, there is a rule that you cannot transfer from the British curriculum to American unless they put him one year back."
Because of that, she might wait until next year to move the boy.
"I'm waiting for another British school to open, then I'll transfer him," she said. "There's no sense in keeping him there because, on top of the high prices, I've noticed poor performance from my son academically since last year."
The parent of an 11-year-old boy said: "It's a lot of money for a school that was given only a satisfactory grade by Adec so there are problems, but where is the money going?
"If we could move schools, we would, but there are no places so we'll give it one more year and, if his grades go down, we'll change him."
Amal Almaamari, an Emirati mother of three, lodged a formal complaint with Adec when she was asked to pay an extra Dh8,500.
"I don't intend to pay unless they have approval from Adec," she said.
Others have also considered pulling their children out since the fees were introduced.
"I've been thinking twice about keeping my children there," said a mother of two. "These are a lot of payments and they keep asking me for money. I won't pay it though. You have other schools where you pay one amount with everything, including maintenance."
Prinicpal Wallace said the school would "fully comply with Adec's regulations and approved fees".
"Our new fee structure intended to support our further investment into the school in order to build a premium sporting facility, including a 25-metre indoor swimming pool and indoor gymnasium.
"Our intention was to add another 500 school spaces to meet the demand for school places in the city. The school has always worked in partnership with Adec to understand the process for fee increases and charges."
cmalek@thenational.ae
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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.”
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