Education in India

Corporates may be able to set up universities through section 25 companies

according to the Business Standard.

“We have received requests demanding this route. The government is exploring the possibility, as it could be allowed under Section 25 of the Companies Act,” confirmed Sunil Kumar, joint secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD),
......

At present, educational institutions in India can be set up only by trusts, societies or companies, and it is not possible for non-profit companies, like industry associations, under Section 25 of the Companies Act, to set up institutions and get recognition from the University Grants Commission. In the primary and secondary education space, however, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) allowed companies registered under the Act to start private unaided schools last year.

Some higher education institutions have taken this route in the technical education space to escape policing by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) — the body that regulates technical education in the country. For instance, many management schools have gone the Indian School of Business (ISB) way, opting for a one-year management programme (against the conventional two-year courses), and have registered themselves under Section 25 of the Act.
....

Educational institutions in India, which are set up by trusts or societies come under the purview of the Charity Commissioner, who is appointed by a state government. Section 25 of the Act, on the other hand, comes under the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), thus reinforcing the control of the Centre and not the state over the manner in which the institutions are run and financed.

However, in both the structures — non-profit or society and trust — profits cannot be taken out of the institution and have to be reinvested. Institutions registered under the Act have to use their profits, if any, in promoting the institutions. The Act also prohibits the payment of any dividend to its members. The association may enjoy all the privileges of charitable trusts, but are scrutinised by the Income-Tax Department and not Charity Commissioner, unlike limited companies.

MHRD says it is still studying the way out for students if an institution set up under the Act winds up and its assets are to be transferred to another similar institution. “As of today, if an institution set up by a society winds up, its operation and properties are transferred to another institution. But in this case, we are still studying what route a non-profit entity could acquire if it faces a similar issue,” added an HRD official.

Experts add, this arrangement will allow standards for centrally-administered institutes to be cleared by one central authority rather than different standards for different states

This was actually mooted a little over an year ago. But why all this hoopla? What is the difference between being a trust, a society or a section 25 company? What is the difficulty with a section 25 company setting up a university? A study on charities in India throws some light with a comparison of a section-25 company, a society and a trust across various parameters.

There is one uniform law across the country for companies, the Companies Act, 1956. It is this robust law protected by powerful commercial interests that makes it very difficult for the state government to take over a section 25 Company. The company form is recognised all over the world, it is more closely regulated and monitored than trusts and societies.

But the confusion still remains. Why should the state want to take over or dissolve a section-25 company running a university? In the event of the incumbent management of  a section-25 company running a university mismanaging the university, shouldn't the state be facilitating a takeover of the mismanaged section-25 company by any other interested party capable of running the university well? When the fraud at Satyam Computers came to light, the state didn't take over the company. It only appointed an independent board of directors comprising of experienced and respected professionals who set the house in order and found another entity willing to acquire the assets and liabilities of Satyam and run it going forward.

More questions than answers at this point of time.

Procedures to start a new school in Tamil Nadu to be streamlined

says, The Hindu.

A committee, headed by M.P. Vijayakumar, former State Project Director of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), is now holding public hearings and it will submit its report to the Government/Department of School Education shortly. While the committee had its sittings in Chennai and Coimbatore, it will hold its hearing in Madurai on July 4 to receive suggestions from schools in southern districts.

 When someone wants to start a school or get the mandatory renewal for a school, he/she has to go through many procedures. So, the State government has constituted a committee to address the issue," Mr. Vijayakumar, committee chairperson, told The Hindu here on Sunday. The government was "seriously concerned" over the difficulties faced by school managements in getting the necessary clearance and certificates. "For instance, every school applies for renewal once in three years and there are cases where it takes two years to get the clearance. By the time, the next renewal becomes due. This was brought to our attention at the two hearings held so far," Mr. Vijayakumar, who is also an honorary advisor to SSA, said.

    According to him, the committee would hear directly from all stakeholders - State Board/Matriculation Board and nursery schools - about difficulties they encounter. Mr. Vijayakumar said the final report would be submitted in about a month.

It would be interesting to see what the report has to say. In an earlier post, I had looked at Mayank Wadhwa's note on the licenses required to start a school in Delhi.

Update: The Hindu carried a report on the public hearing at Madurai on July 4th. 

“The State government is seriously concerned over the delays in obtaining recognition certificate for starting a school and also at the time of renewal. So, this committee was formed to look into the means for simplified and streamlined procedures,” Mr. Vijayakumar said in his opening remarks.

He said that the objective of forming the committee was to examine how to reduce the time taken by various departments for issuing the mandatory certificates to schools in both urban and rural areas.

The common suggestion that came from the school correspondents and principals was that the officials of School Education Department in all districts must have powers to deal with issuing of certificates if all parameters were satisfied as per the Government norms.

Town planning approval, Fire Department certificate, building stability certificate, local body approvals and license from the tahsildhar were among the topics discussed. Some participants suggested that the norm of obtaining renewal certificate by private schools once in three years can be revised to at least five years.

“Every time we go for renewal, documents and photographs of buildings have to be submitted. That practice may be done with to simplify the job for both the schools and department officials,” a school Principal said.

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

Section 25 companies to be allowed to invest in higher education in India

According to a Business Standard report,

Private and foreign corporate investment may soon get to flow into Indian higher education with the government considering a move to reform policy that hinders such financing.

Currently, it is not possible for non-profit companies under Article 25 of the Companies Registration Act — like industry associations — to set up an institution and get university status and recognition from the University Grants Commission.

Educational institutions in India can be set up only by trusts, societies and charitable companies, but the profits cannot be taken out of the institution and have to be reinvested. Not only does this restriction hamper expansion, it also encourages promoters to resort to creative accounting to take out profits from the institutions.

Now, under encouragement from an influential political ally from Maharashtra, the United Progressive Alliance government is expected to clarify this clause, sources told Business Standard.

But this report doesn't indicate that for-profit higher education will be allowed - it only seems to indicate that in addition to non-profit trusts or societies, non-profit Section 25 companies will also be allowed to set up higher education institutions, which is not as big a step as what is being considered in the primary education space. A recent report had suggested that for-profit investment in primary education is under consideration.

So, what is a Section 25 company? The Indian Companies Act (1956), provides a definition of a section 25 company.

Section 25 POWER TO DISPENSE WITH "LIMITED" IN NAME OF CHARITABLE OR OTHER COMPANY.

(1) Where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Central Government that an association
(a) is about to be formed as a limited company for promoting commerce, art, science, religion, charity or any other useful object, and
(b) intends to apply its profits, if any, or other income in promoting its objects, and to prohibit the payment of any dividend to its members, the Central Government may, by licence direct, that the association may be registered as a company with limited liability, without the addition to its name of the word "Limited" or the words "Private Limited".

(2) The association may thereupon be registered accordingly; and on registration shall enjoy all the privileges, and (subject to the provisions of this section) be subject to all the obligations, of limited companies.

(3) Where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Central Government - (a) that the objects of a company registered under this Act as a limited company are restricted to those specified in clause (a) of sub-section (1), and (b) that by its constitution the company is required to apply its profits, if any, or other income in promoting its objects and is prohibited from paying any dividend to its members, the Central Government may, by licence, authorise the company by a special resolution to change its name, including or consisting of the omission of the word "Limited" or the words "Private Limited"; and section 23 shall apply to a change of name under this sub-section as it applies to a change of name under section 21.

(4) A firm may be a member of any association or company licensed under this section, but on the dissolution of the firm, its membership of the association or company shall cease.

(5) A licence may be granted by the Central Government under this section on such conditions and subject to such regulations as it thinks fit, and those conditions and regulations shall be binding on the body to which the licence is granted, and where the grant is under sub-section (1), shall, if the Central Government so directs, be inserted in the memorandum, or in the articles, or partly in the one and partly in the other.

(6) It shall not be necessary for a body to which a licence is so granted to use the word "Limited" or the words "Private Limited" as any part of its name and, unless its articles otherwise provide, such body shall, if the Central Government by general or special order so directs and to the extent specified in the directions, be exempt from such of the provisions of this Act as may be specified therein.

(7) The licence may at any time be revoked by the Central Government, and upon revocation,

Not that big a difference from the way non-profit trusts or societies operate in India.

The Business Standard report also goes on to suggest that with the shackles of the Left Parties removed after the recent confidence vote, there will now be movement on the pending Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill to allow foreign universities to operate in India.

There is also renewed hope for a Bill allowing foreign universities and institutions into India to be tabled in Parliament, judging by Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh’s remarks at a conference of state education ministers two days ago.

The Left parties were the principal opponents of the Foreign Education Providers (Regulation) Bill, which was cleared by the Cabinet in 2007 but never introduced in the Lok Sabha although it was listed in the agenda papers.

“We have tried to accommodate some of the concerns. We will try to introduce the Bill in the Lok Sabha session beginning August,” Singh said. The Bill seeks to regulate foreign institutions setting up campuses in India. A contentious issue is whether caste-based reservations would apply to these institutions.

Both Oxford and Stanford Universities have evinced interest in setting up campuses in India but have been hesitant about moving forward until they are clear about the degree of regulation, funding and other issues.

Experts say the moves would provide clarity on funding of higher education institutions by overseas entities. "This will probably provide funding clarity for foreign institutions like charitable organisations or NRIs wanting to set up facilities in India.

Primary education for profit likely to be allowed in India

says The Economic Times. This is a very interesting move by the Government, heralding a huge change in their thinking on funding primary education. If they implement it, there could be a surge of much-needed private investment into primary education to provide a big boost to both supply and quality. The idea of cautious experimentation by asking private players to work in partnership with a government agency is a wise one.

Source: The Economic Times, Chennai Edition, Tuesday, July 22, p1 (couldn't find the link online)

Profit-making in primary education may get okay

Gireesh Chandra Prasad
New Delhi

Come December and corporates may get to venture into preimary education as a profit-making business by partnering with government bodies. According to a proposal on public-private partnership that the government is working on, shareholders of such companies will be eligible for dividends. This is a major break from the present legal restrictions that force companies providing education to plough back profits and utilise the funds for their stated objective of providing education.

Trusts, societies and charitable companies are the most-preferred legal structure for educational institutions and promoters are barred from taking profits out of such institutions. The proposed rules will change this equation with promoters earning reasonable dividends under watchful eyes of the public sector partners they will work with.

THe new norms would allow entrepreneurs to incorporate their ventures as companies and get into education as a profit-making service. However, they will not be eligible for any tax exemption that now extends to societies, trusts and charitable companies.

The finance ministry is expected to begin the process by issuing a request for qualification - a document detailing the parameters for eligible companies. This would give details about how the proposed business model would be structured without violating the existing restriction on repatriation of profits. The ministry would also evolve a model for inviting private investments in primary health centres through public-private partnerships.

The proposed relaxation would be available only for companies getting into partnerships with government entities and not to all. The nature of these projects would be different from the few public-private partnerhsips that have already happened under the rurual health mission and the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, which are largely in the form of management contracts or for providing specific services.

Pearson to acquire English Language Teaching outfit in China

reports Forbes.com.

Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, is in advanced talks about acquiring a chain of private schools in Shanghai, the first time it would own an education institution anywhere in the world. LEC comprises 15 schools and the deal offers Pearson a way of entering the heavily regulated Chinese education market ahead of the Beijing Olympics. LEC schools provides after-school education for children aged five to 12 whose parents pay for them to learn English.

The LEC deal, which has been in the works for at least a year, would run counter to competitors in the education market who have been abandoning or selling up their international operations to private equity and focusing on the US.

Pearson insiders say the shift in education is moving towards technology platforms and software in education rather than printed textbooks and the LEC schools offer among other benefits a way of showcasing products such as interactive boards.

A similar institute In India, VETA, which is into English language training, announced in October 2007, that it had received an investment of US$ 10 million from SAIF Partners, an Asian private equity firm established through strategic commitments from Softbank Corporation and Cisco. The funds would be used to implement Veta’s expansion plans to set up overseas centres in Singapore (by December), Malaysia (in early 2008), Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and China, and 60 centres across India.

So VETA would be competing with LEC in China.

International higher education headed for a sub-prime style crash?

So says Philip Altbach, in an article in The Times Higher Education.

Just as many universities want to be global players, so in the housing sector, buyers and financial industries wanted to participate in a growing and lucrative market. House prices were rising fast, and few questions were asked about products, sellers or buyers. The market was allowed to function without constraint. "Irrational exuberance" set in, with the market becoming saturated - a "bubble" mentality. The bubble has now burst and many countries face very serious economic and social consequences.

International higher education stands in the middle of that cycle - somewhere between exuberance and a bubble - so now is the time to examine which actions are sustainable, which policies will serve the interests of students and the academy, and which actions constitute mistaken policy or greed.

International education has become big business, with perhaps 3 million students studying outside their own countries, and billions of pounds, euros and dollars being generated from tuition, living expenses, branch campuses, franchises and much else. No one knows how many branch campuses exist, but estimates are in the hundreds, almost all in developing or middle-income countries. The market is large, growing and basically unregulated. It is indeed the Wild West or, more accurately, the Wild East.

One might take the view that "the market will sort itself out". Here again, a comparison can be made with sub-prime mortgages. In that sector, today's crisis was reached by allowing unscrupulous players to operate, and by encouraging respectable banks to buy up risky debt with little regulation. There is a similar mentality in international higher education. In this largely unregulated market, some sellers are prestigious universities hoping to build links overseas, recruit top students to their home campuses and strengthen their brand abroad. But many more are sub-prime institutions: sleazy recruiters, degree packagers, low-end private institutions seeking to stave off bankruptcy through the export market and even a few respectable universities forced by government funding cutbacks to raise cash elsewhere.

Buyers such as students but also institutions in developing countries, are similarly unregulated, sometimes ill-informed and often naive. Most tragically, students buy services without much information or understanding. Uninformed or simply avaricious institutions in developing countries may form partnerships with low-quality colleges and universities in, for example, the US, Australia and the UK, and receive substandard teaching or degree courses. Regulation may be absent or inappropriate, making quality assurance impossible. There are not enough top-quality universities in countries such as China and India to absorb all the potential overseas partners. Further, most institutions worldwide lack the infrastructures to engage successfully in sophisticated international initiatives.

I couldn't agree more with his suggestion and his proposed solution to avoid the impending crash.

Clear regulation is needed, probably by government authority, to ensure that national interests are served and that students do not receive a shoddy service from unscrupulous providers. This will also help universities think about their motivations for entering the market.

We badly need an effective educational regulator in India like SEBI, the RBI or TRAI, which regulate the capital markets, the banking sector and the telecom sector respectively. Will the Independent Regulatory Authority for Higher Education (IRAHE) see the light of day and more importantly have the teeth and comptence to regulate well, if it does indeed come about?

Anil Kumble to be Manipal Education's brand ambassador

In what could be a harbinger of things to come, the brand marketing of formal education has begun and it is no bad thing. Manipal Education Group, which runs Manipal University (formerly known as Manipal Academy of Higher Education - MAHE) announced in November 2007 that they had signed up Anil Kumble as their brand ambassador.

While Vishwanathan Anand has been NIIT's brand ambassador for nearly a decade, to my knowledge, this is the first instance of a Indian university/college signing up a brand ambassador.

Education in India, and higher education in particular, has long been subjected to a supply-demand gap, with demand far outstripping supply. Institutions have had no need to market themselves with the number of applicants typically being a huge multiple of the number of available seats. But as institutions strive to buy "peer influence" from their own customers, their students, the competition for above average students has begun in right earnest.

While this kind of competition is likely to result in the better run institutions getting better over time, the poorly run institutions may only be able to attract those students who are unable to make it to the better run institutions and the quality of such institutions could decline over time relative to the quality of the better run institutions. One important thing that is currently lacking and needs to be addressed is a mechanism for "mergers and acquisitions" amongst educational institutions. There ought to be a way for poorly run institutions to be acquired by the better run institutions, so that they can be quickly turned around to increase the supply of seats in better run institutions.

This will require policy changes, which can only be achieved by consistent advocacy.

NewSchools Venture Fund - a cross between a VC fund and a public charity

The NewSchools Venture Fund (NSVF), set up in 1998 by John Doerr and Brook Byers, both venture capitalists with VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Kim Smith, co-founder and executive chairman of NSVF, is a very interesting idea.

Here's how they describe themselves on their web site.

NSVF believes that all children are entitled to an education that will serve them well in the knowledge economy of the 21st century. Sadly, too many children are being left behind at schools where expectations for achievement are low, where academic programs are weak, and where too little learning is taking place. NewSchools stands alongside education, business, nonprofit, and policy leaders working to transform the K-12 public education system that exists today.

Our approach is powerful, unique and proven. We raise early-stage capital from institutional and individual donors, and we invest it in nonprofit and for-profit ventures led by promising education entrepreneurs who are creating high-quality, scalable solutions that address the most critical problems facing education. And, because education is complex and change-averse, we fortify our positions with thought leadership designed to foster an environment that is conducive to high performance and to real change.

NewSchools Venture Fund is a public benefit, 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization designed to improve public K-12 public education, particularly for underserved students. As a venture philanthropy firm, we invest in a select portfolio of the most promising for-profit and nonprofit education ventures. Like a traditional venture capital firm, the NewSchools team reviews business plans, conducts extensive due diligence on promising ventures, and invites ventures that best fit the NewSchools criteria to be part of the investment portfolio.
NewSchools differs from traditional firms in that the return on our investment is measured not in dollars, but in improved educational outcomes. NewSchools differs also in that we invest in both for-profit and nonprofit entities. Any financial returns that are generated from for-profit investments are re-invested in the Fund and used to support more education entrepreneurs.

Our track record demonstrates the power of entrepreneurs to improve education. Since 1998, we've invested $60 million in leading ventures, and together they've produced incredible results:

• Over 1 million underserved children learned to read, empowering them with the single most important foundational skill they need to progress through elementary and secondary education.
  
• 2 million children in high-need urban and rural areas have been taught by over 14,000 high-achieving college graduates, deployed with the vision of ensuring our underserved children receive the best education available.
  
• 150,000 underserved children measurably improved their algebra skills, providing a critical stepping-stone towards notable achievement in the fields of science and technology.
  
• Over 100,000 students attend schools led by a new breed of highly-qualified principals who were recruited from diverse backgrounds and trained to deploy their unique skills and talents in the service of our nation's greatest asset -- our children.
  
• Nearly 15,000 low-income students today attend 61 industry-leading charter schools, receiving an education in foundational and higher-order skills to rival their middle- and higher-income peers -- by 2009, almost 58,000 students will benefit in over 160 schools.
  
• Each month, 2 million parents, teachers and others use an online information site to become more informed decision-makers about, and advocates for, their children's education.

NSVF's portfolio ranges across public, private and charter schools.

Dubai-based company, Emaar Group, to set up International schools in India

Emaar Properties, a Dubai-based property developer, has announced plans to set up International schools in the Middle East, North Africa and India.

The latest initiative will involve the establishment of international schools in the MENA region and India which will offer premium quality education and an integrated curriculum for students ranging from kindergarten to tertiary levels. To achieve this, Emaar has already forged strategic partnerships with internationally reputable education specialists as well as finalized the acquisition of existing institutions.

Indeed, education is one of the largest businesses in the world today. Increasingly, people, especially in the MENA region and India, are increasingly starting to recognise the importance of having good education, hence driving up demand for service providers in this sector.

Statistics from the Institute of International Education in the USA also show that the numbers of Arab student enrolments in the USA have declined significantly post 9/11. On the other hand, the enrolment rate in universities in the Arab world has increased simultaneously, and is believed to be a continuing trend.

A study conducted by Incite, an independent market research agency, found - based on availability of existing education institution options - that between now and 2010, demand for premium primary, secondary and higher education, especially in Egypt and the UAE, will exceed supply. Furthermore, various reports suggest that one of the biggest challenges facing the MENA region is the need to develop 100 million jobs by 2020. Other research also suggests that several of these countries have been unable to convert national wealth into extended opportunities for basic education.

Mr Alabbar said: “Our business proposition hits the nail on the head by directly addressing the growing demand for premium quality education in the MENA region and India. As per our studies there is a gap in the availability of quality education and the type of jobs that are on offer in the region. Our plan aims to close this gap.”

Dubai will be the first to benefit from the schools operating under the new initiative, but a quick rollout is planned for all the other markets where Emaar is developing premium residential communities. Providing premium education to the children in the community is part of the company’s holistic approach to property development.

In December 2005, Emaar had announced huge investments in real estate in commercial and residential property development in India.

Emaar-MGF Land Private Limited, a joint venture company formed by Emaar Properties PJSC - the world’s largest listed real estate company, and MGF Developments Limited of India today announced India’s largest FDI in real estate amounting to over half a billion dollars for projects with a capital outlay of US$4 billion (Rs 18,000 crore). The projects are planned for Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Chairman of Emaar Properties, Mr Mohamed Ali Alabbar said: “This joint venture is symbolic of the coming together of two countries to develop world class facilities, services and living spaces at a time when India is emerging as one of the world’s favoured destinations for investments, market and tourism."

Communities will include residential plots, town houses and villas along with convenient shopping, landscaped gardens, civic facilities and amenities. They will also provide for the opening of international standard offices and IT parks which in turn will give a fillip to industry, business and IT in the State. With a view to make available to residents medical care, education and recreation, some of the planned communities will have hospitals, schools and colleges.

According to a news report in Gulf News (Sep 2005), Emaar is setting up a Knowledge Corridor in Andhra Pradesh on contract for a joint venture between the Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Dubai.

It will be located on the outskirts of the state capital Hyderabad and will comprise office clusters, residential units and associated facilities. The Knowledge Corridor, which will have a 165 km ring road, is expected to be completed in three years. It will help Dubai-based companies to outsource services in Hyderabad.

Presumably, Emaar's schools in India will be set up in conjuction with their other real estate projects. GEMS, another Dubai-based company, is also active in setting up and running schools in India.