New perspectives on Middle East international schools

In February this year, on the occasion of the launch of Relocate Global’s Guide to International Education and Schools, education experts and school leaders, as well as HR and relocation professionals, assembled at London’s Institute of Directors to discuss emerging education trends and tackle some of the unique issues that internationally relocating families face when selecting a new school for their child.

One of the liveliest sessions addressed the unique challenges for globally mobile families of finding the right school on relocating to a Middle Eastern country. As Diane Glass, Business Development Director of International School Consultancy explained, the region has seen a significant expansion of English-medium international schools in recent years. The UAE alone is home to 548 international schools, followed by Saudi Arabia with 238 and Qatar with 154.

Heather Mulkey, group marketing and admissions officer at the International School of London (ISL), with responsibility for schools in London, Surrey and Qatar told delegates how, back in 2007 ISL was selected by the Supreme Education council in Qatar to open as one of their ‘Outstanding Schools.’ But much has changed since then and Ms Mulkey spoke to delegates about the backdrop of the changing economic situation in the region including diversification and demographic shifts. “We are having more families leave than we have seen before but there is continued pressure for places in schools,” she said.

ACS International Schools opened up a new school in Doha in 2011. Mark London, Head of Marketing for ACS spoke about the challenges of adapting the vision, philosophy and values of the school group to a new setting with an entirely different set of rules and regulations. “There are a lot of regulations in Qatar,” said Mr London, “which is one of the on-going challenges. Things like term dates, school fees, national holidays are set for you and there is no opt-out, you have to do that.”

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