UAE parents are the second highest education spenders globally

Parents in the UAE are the second highest spenders on a child’s education globally, HSBC revealed on Tuesday.

The average total spend for one child from primary school to undergraduate level is US$99,378 (or Dh364,899), according to HSBC's annual report Value of Education 2017: Higher and higher. Only parents in Hong Kong have a higher outlay, spending an average $132,161 for a child's schooling.

Singapore's parents incur the third highest average total cost at $70,939, according to the report, which surveyed more than 8,400 parents across 15 countries and territories, with total costs calculated by analysing spending on school and university fees, educational books, transport and accommodation.

However, Gifford Nakajima, HSBC’s regional head of wealth development, retail banking and wealth management in the Mena region, said the average figure for the UAE does not reflect the rate parents pay for top-end schools.

“If you are shooting for an Ivy League school in the US and are looking for a programme here that helps your child prepare them for that, then you can expect to pay in the region of $500,000. As a result, a lot of parents are feeling the pressure because of the soaring costs of education,” he said.

Despite the high costs, education is still a vital priority for parents in the Emirates with many willing to cut back elsewhere to ensure they meet the fee bills; while a quarter of those polled chose to cut out holidays, the same number were content to migrate towards a less expensive social circle and 28 per cent chose to change how they work.

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The value of boarding school for children of UAE expats

UAE families struggle to balance the cost of education

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The research also found many parents had failed to plan in advance for their child’s education with more than half of parents in the UAE wishing they had started saving earlier.

Alarmingly, 15 per cent of parents funding their offspring’s studies through general borrowing and 68 per cent were financing the cost through their day-to-day income. A third of those polled are using general savings and investments to fund the cost while 17 per cent have a specific education plan in place.

The HSBC study also found that one of the aspects driving the cost of education for UAE parents was their high aspirations for their children’s futures. Nearly all (93 per cent) of those polled are considering a university education for their child, and 90 per cent pondering postgraduate studies. Furthermore more parents are willing to send their child abroad for their studies; but while 65 per cent of those surveyed would consider such a move, a third of those polled have no idea how much such studies would cost.

Of those that would consider a university education abroad, just under half would choose the UK, with the US and Australia the second and third choices respectively.

Dina Kanan, the British Council’s Study UK manager, said when parents plan their child’s higher education they should not just focus on tuition fees. “They tend to forget other costs, particularly for higher education, such as living expenses, travel, insurance, entertainment, day to day expenses and flights.”

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Email sent to Uber team from chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi

From: Dara

To: Team@

Date: March 25, 2019 at 11:45pm PT

Subj: Accelerating in the Middle East

Five years ago, Uber launched in the Middle East. It was the start of an incredible journey, with millions of riders and drivers finding new ways to move and work in a dynamic region that’s become so important to Uber. Now Pakistan is one of our fastest-growing markets in the world, women are driving with Uber across Saudi Arabia, and we chose Cairo to launch our first Uber Bus product late last year.

Today we are taking the next step in this journey—well, it’s more like a leap, and a big one: in a few minutes, we’ll announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Careem. Importantly, we intend to operate Careem independently, under the leadership of co-founder and current CEO Mudassir Sheikha. I’ve gotten to know both co-founders, Mudassir and Magnus Olsson, and what they have built is truly extraordinary. They are first-class entrepreneurs who share our platform vision and, like us, have launched a wide range of products—from digital payments to food delivery—to serve consumers.

I expect many of you will ask how we arrived at this structure, meaning allowing Careem to maintain an independent brand and operate separately. After careful consideration, we decided that this framework has the advantage of letting us build new products and try new ideas across not one, but two, strong brands, with strong operators within each. Over time, by integrating parts of our networks, we can operate more efficiently, achieve even lower wait times, expand new products like high-capacity vehicles and payments, and quicken the already remarkable pace of innovation in the region.

This acquisition is subject to regulatory approval in various countries, which we don’t expect before Q1 2020. Until then, nothing changes. And since both companies will continue to largely operate separately after the acquisition, very little will change in either teams’ day-to-day operations post-close. Today’s news is a testament to the incredible business our team has worked so hard to build.

It’s a great day for the Middle East, for the region’s thriving tech sector, for Careem, and for Uber.

Uber on,

Dara