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Emaar breaks ground for educational institutions

DUBAI — Emaar Properties broke ground for its first education institution in Dubai in Umm Suqeim yesterday. Emaar Education, the wholly-owned subsidiary of the real estate major, is opening five international schools and four nurseries and kindergartens in Dubai, which will be operational starting mid-2007.

Mohamed Ali Alabbar, Chairman, Emaar Properties, broke ground for the first school in the presence of Emaar Board Members, officials from the Ministry of Education and Mr Boon Yew Ng, Chief Executive Officer of Emaar Education.

"This ground breaking marks a new beginning for Emaar as we diversify into education, a core growth sector," said Alabbar. "Dubai is growing exponentially and much of this growth is driven by an increasingly cosmopolitan population. World-class education is a pressing need and through our educational institutions, we hope to give our residents the opportunity of having an international educational institution right at their doorstep."

He added, "The UAE government is committed to achieving 100 per cent literacy within the country. Education therefore has been given due priority by our nation's leaders. The budget allocation for education has increased considerably to Dh96 billion in 2005. In the UAE, there are 1 million students under the age of 18, and 2 million people in the age group of 18-40 years. With three-fourths of the UAE population thus serving as the direct beneficiaries of the sector, education is a core growth area for Emaar."

Emaar's investment in education is also in line with the company's Vision 2010 of becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world through focused expansion and diversification. "Our first international school is opening in Singapore in 2007 and following the educational institutions in Dubai, we will extend the same concept to other emerging markets in Middle East and North Africa, the Indian Subcontinent and East Asia," said Alabbar.

Emaar is opening three international schools at Umm Suqeim and two at Al Barsha. The nurseries and kindergartens are located within the property developer's master-planned communities — The Springs, The Lakes, and Emirates Hills. Raffles Campus Pte Ltd (Raffles Campus), the Singapore-based premier educational provider recently acquired by Emaar, will provide world-class teaching expertise at all these educational institutions.

The schools, nurseries and kindergartens are open to UAE residents of all nationalities and will have an intake of 1,200 to 1,500 students per school and 120 to 200 per nursery and kindergarten.

Branded "Raffles International School", the schools will offer streams of internationally recognised curricula including the International Baccalaureate Diploma, American High School Diploma, the Cambridge University's International General Certificate of Education - Advanced Level and the International General Certificate in Secondary Education.

Following an integrated pathway model to ensure all-round development of students, Raffles Campus holds the award of the SQC for PEOs (Singapore Quality Class for Private Education Organisations). The educational provider has campuses in Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, China and Vietnam.

The multi-campus environment of the Raffles Campus network offers students anywhere in the world the option and flexibility of the Raffles Campus 'Students' Immersion Exchange' programmes. "These programmes expose students to diverse cultural backgrounds while the faculty members will have the opportunity to teach in various international campuses," said Mr Ng.

"The fee structure of the schools will be competitively set and fully transparent to parents," added Mr Ng. "Every aspect of functioning of the schools will be clearly streamlined and in tune with internationally accepted best practices. This will offer our students a distinct competitive advantage and enable them to be truly world-class citizens."