ABU DHABI // Nearly 4,000 pupils will be displaced by the closure of four villa schools, the Abu Dhabi Education Council (Adec) said yesterday.
Al Dhafra Private School, Al Manara Private School, a branch of Al Taawan Private School and Al Talae'e Private School will not be allowed to continue operating from their current premises from July - forcing 3,980 pupils to move to other facilities.
The closures are part of Adec's plan to shut schools illegally operating out of residential buildings.
All villa schools in Al Ain were shut in March. The 37 remaining schools have to close by the 2013-2014 academic year.
A federal decision in 1999 banned operators from using villas for educational purposes.
Several inspections found safety and security issues, and inappropriate learning environments.
The authority said it had to shut down Al Talae'e Private School, which follows the national curriculum, after its management failed to build a new campus within the legal time frame.
All other schools decided to move out before Adec's deadline.
Hamad Al Dhaheri, the executive director of Adec's private schools and quality assurance sector, said the authority had to take action against schools that did not fulfil the legal commitment.
"Each villa school that has promised to construct a new building must work hard to meet all of Adec's licensing requirements without any delay," he said. "Complete construction as quickly as possible once all necessary approvals are obtained".
Al Dhafra, which offers American and British curricula, will be moving to a purpose-built campus in September. Al Manara, a national curriculum school, will operate from a government facility until it builds its own campus.
Al Taawan, which follows the British system, has decided to merge with Merryland International School in Mussaffah. Both schools are managed by the Sherwood Group of Schools. A spokesman for Al Taawan said all necessary arrangements had been made to move the 1,700 pupils.
"All parents were informed about a possible move this year," he said. "Most have agreed to continue with us at the other campus."
The spokesman said there would be a change in the school's fee structure after Adec approval, but he refused to go into more detail. Adec said relocated schools can increase fees by up to 20 per cent.
All displaced pupils will be offered places at the new facilities.
Parents of children at Al Talae'e School can opt for Al Manara or a new school, Yas Academy, for the coming academic year.
Children at affected schools will get priority during the admissions process for the coming academic year, until June 28 only.
Mr Al Dhaheri said Adec was working with villa school operators to ensure minimum disruption.
"It is very pleasing to see Al Dhafra Private School moving to new buildings it has constructed. Adec looks forward to seeing other villa schools follow suit," he added.
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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.”