Dubai // Expatriate parents yesterday threw their support behind the school inspection system, saying the rankings were a key tool for people deciding where to send their children.
The results were often not the only factor guiding their decision, but they provided independent insight, particularly valuable for parents who had just arrived in the UAE.
The assessments were leading to improvements in schools, said Dr Abdulla al Karam, the director general of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, which carried out the inspections.
Claire Fenner, the co-founder of Heels and Deals, a networking group for female entrepreneurs whose eldest child attends the Dubai British School, said the inspections were useful.
"I definitely know that most of the parents, when the results came out last year, they were extremely happy about it because before there wasn't anything to go on other than the information that the education provider gave to them. It's great to have an unbiased opinion, and I think that parents really value that, especially when it's in a schooling system that is private and can be foreign to them."
Many parents, Mrs Fenner said, used the inspection results to make decisions. "Some have chosen to send or not to send their children to a particular school based on the results, so they are absolutely influential."
Tracey Burrows, whose firm Executive Expatriate Relocations helps new families place their children in schools, said the results provided important guidance to parents, even if the rankings do not necessarily determine their choices.
"At the end of the day, ultimately the parent will make their decision on the child's needs; how the school feels, whether the curriculum is right," she said.
The inspections, she added, are particularly valuable for parents new to the UAE. "The parents we're dealing with haven't reached the country yet so they don't have any prior knowledge. Before the KHDA started to rate the schools in this way we didn't have anything to use as a benchmark. It was just word of mouth, parents going on to expat websites and having a look at people's comments."
Ms Burrows said most parents would not consider looking at a school ranked "unsatisfactory" but would look at an "acceptable" school. She added: "People are not put off when they see 'acceptable' because they know there are so many different factors - maybe it's a new school that hasn't quite got all of their facilities open already; maybe that has affected their ranking but academically it might be absolutely fantastic. There are so many different things that affect the ratings. So I don't think that parents would just look at the rating without questioning why is it that they didn't get 'good'. It really isn't stopping people."
Sabine Haas, an American mother whose children attend one of Dubai's French schools, said she would think about moving her kids if the school got a low score.
"If the education they receive here is mediocre we would change, because there are quite a few options here," she said, adding that inspection results were not everything.
Lori Sieben-Kittel, another American mother whose children go to school in Dubai, agreed that inspection results would factor into her decision to send her child to a particular school. "There are plenty of openings. As the population of Dubai has decreased, it's not like you're fighting. We used to have to accept where we could get in first."
Another mother, who asked to remain anonymous and whose son is at the Delhi Private School, one of seven Indian schools to be ranked "good", agreed that inspection results made a difference.
"At the end of the day, if a good education is provided, your life is taken care of. We would definitely not put him in a school that is unsatisfactory or acceptable," she said. "It should come under 'good'."
She agreed that rankings are a useful tool for parents new to Dubai. "We would think twice about whether to move out of this category and put him in a good school."
"I guess whoever comes into the country they have a lot of choices to choose from and they go by these listings."
@Email:klewis@thenational.ae
ABU DHABI CARD
5pm: UAE Martyrs Cup (TB) Conditions; Dh90,000; 2,200m
5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup (PA) Handicap; Dh70,000; 1,400m
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6.30pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak (IFAHR) Apprentice Championship (PA) Prestige; Dh100,000; 1,600m
7pm: Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak (IFAHR) Ladies World Championship (PA) Prestige; Dh125,000; 1,600m
8pm: Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Jewel Crown (PA) Group 1; Dh5,000,000; 1,600m
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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.”
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The Land between Two Rivers: Writing in an Age of Refugees
Tom Sleigh, Graywolf Press
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'Peninsula'
Stars: Gang Dong-won, Lee Jung-hyun, Lee Ra
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Rating: 2/5
SPEC SHEET
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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.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months