GEMS to invest US$408 million in UAE schools, expanding capacity by over 20,000

After expanding into the U.K. (11 schools now) and India (6 schools now), they are now on planning to provide more than 20,000 new school places in the UAE, their home base, and foraying into South Africa.

According to a report in The National,

Plans to provide more than 20,000 new school places in the UAE have been announced by the Dubai-based Global Education Management Systems (Gems). The Dh1.5 billion (US$408 million) expansion will focus on Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and other emirates.

Gems, which runs more than 75 schools worldwide, is also looking to significantly increase its international reach. The company’s mission is to become the “leading provider of education and learning management services” globally, said Dino Varkey, senior director for business development at Gems. It is currently developing plans to open schools in South Africa, where the company already has a strong presence, and in other nations.

Gems has 25 schools in the UAE with about 70,000 pupils, which it says equates to a 14 per cent share of the total UAE education market. It is the single largest employer of British and Indian teachers outside the UK and India. “The UAE is still our home business and there is a tremendous amount of growth,” said Mr Varkey.

As it grows, Mr Varkey said Gems plans to move away from owning the school buildings in order to concentrate instead on running the schools. “Because we’re an education company, we’ll try to separate ourselves from the bricks and mortar. We’d like to leave that to others,” he said. “If we can find investors to build the school for us, we can take the land and building on a long-term lease. We have a lot of landlords comfortable with 25- to 50-year leases. It’s a quicker way for us to grow.”

Gems owns and operates 60 per cent of its schools, with 40 per cent owned by others but managed by Gems, a proportion that has more than doubled in two years. Last autumn, Gems branched into the public school sector in the UAE with a subsidiary company, School Improvement Partnership, which runs public-private partnership (PPP) schools in Abu Dhabi. “We do expect to grow our managed school business for high-net-worth individuals who want to go into education. We manage schools for them,” Mr Varkey said.

“We’re very cost-focused,” Mr Varkey said. “A parent paying $15,000 to $20,000 is very specific in what they want, whereas the parent sending [their child] to a mid-market school is not concerned about their child speaking five languages or learning the cello. They want a good education and for their kid to go to a good university. It’s very aspirational.

“Many of the mid-market schools, which include several Indian schools, offer tuition for less than Dh5,000. “Our Own English High School in Dubai charges just Dh7,500 annually. At the other end of the spectrum, the Gems World Academy in Dubai, which will open its doors in September, will charge as much as Dh92,000 a year.”

The GEMS website provides details on its plans in South Africa.

GEMS South Africa was registered in November 2006 as a company in South Africa to promote the interests and activities of GEMS Education.

GEMS South Africa will purchase and build schools in its own name and to manage schools on behalf of clients thereby promoting and incorporating cutting-edge internationally recognised curriculum developments; implanting knowledge and intellectual property into environments most conducive to the enrichment of learning, creativity and personal development; utilising highly experienced educationalists, teachers and school management experts, working collaboratively with international educational organisations while preserving the beliefs, values, traditions and cultures of the schools it owns and manages.

GEMS South Africa is currently undertaking feasibility studies for the development of two new private schools in Namibia and developing the first high volume/low cost school in South Africa.

The latter model is based upon a very successful model operational by GEMS Education in other parts of the world. GEMS South Africa believes that there is a gaping void in key strategic locations in South Africa for such private, not-for-profit schools, which it hopes to develop as a network of highly successful and prestigious schools throughout South Africa to assist in spearheading access to quality, affordable education.

GEMS' plans in India, announced in 2004 of 100 schools in India seem to have taken a bit of a back seat with only 6 schools run by them as of now in India. In an earlier post, I had discussed their strategy in India of not owning the schools, but taking on management contracts - a replication of their UAE strategy.

GEMS is looking to hire Principals for their schools and has advertised for the 2009 school year.

Description: For 49 years GEMS has provided education that enriches the lives of children and their communities. In 2009 GEMS plans to expand the network of GEMS Schools within the UAE, UK, India and Kuwait.

Each school project will differ depending on the country in which it is located and the curriculum offered. Each of these new schools will feature an international curriculum, National Curriculum for England, an American curriculum or the International Baccalaureate Programme.

We are looking for successful, experienced school leaders and ambitious senior leaders to join GEMS in our planned expansion. Roles will focus on the development and opening of schools and on providing the solid foundations from which they will grow over the coming years.

Salary / Pay: Remuneration packages will be aligned with the best leaders of prestigious schools from around the world.

Experience Required: no

This Program is open to American, Australian, Canadian, European, Kiwi and South African Participants.

Application Process Involves:

* In-Person Interview Required
* In-Person Interview when Feasible
* Letters of Reference
* Other
* Phone Interview
* Resume
* Transcript
* Written Application

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