UAE Parents 'Unprepared for High University Cost'
Parents in the UAE who are feeling the considerable pinch of putting their children through school have another impending shock to worry about – the cost of university education. Some 65% of parents in the UAE are considering sending their children abroad to university according to a report issued by HSBC.
In The Value of Education: Springboard for Success, first published in April this year, HSBC examines the total cost of an international university education in 16 countries across the world, taking into account the average cost of living and university fees. The study also reveals the countries perceived to offer the highest quality of education according to parents in the UAE.
The annual cost of sending a child to study abroad, including university fees and the cost of living, is $36,564 in the US and $35,045 in the UK, which are the top two most expensive university destinations in the world. According to the study the UAE is - surprisingly WSA believes - rated third best globally by UAE parents in terms of its educational quality for tertiary education. This does not mirror the findings of our survey into higher education.
The total cost of an international university education in the UAE is $30,472 making it the sixth most costly surveyed.
Despite these high costs, and parents here being among the most ambitious globally - with nearly 9 out of 10 parents (86%) desiring their children to study to a post-graduate level – the vast majority are, say HSBC, ‘alarmingly unprepared to support these aspirations’. Two-thirds (67%) wish they had begun saving earlier, while virtually all (99%) fund their children’s education fully or partially through their current income.
The Value of Education report examines the views of over 4,500 higher income parents from 15 countries, and 300 from the UAE, who have at least one child under the age of 23 currently in education (or soon to be), and are solely or partially responsible for making decisions about their child’s education.
The sample group of UAE parents have a minimum personal monthly income of AED 20,000.
