Established in 1978, Dubai College is one of the oldest UK curriculum schools in the city and one of the few Secondary only schools. It is also one of a limited number of not for profit schools - although this does not mean that the fees are lower than the for-profit schools. DC's reputation is built on its renown as the most academic of schools.

The story so far..

If Dubai was mature enough to have an Ivy League school, Dubai College, established over 40 years ago, would be it.  

Feedback from WhichSchoolAdvisor.com surveys, although limited in number, have been decidedly positive and focused not only on the academic achievement of the school, but its wider offering:

"The principal of the school is absolutely outstanding, arguably the best in the emirate. This has a huge influence on the running of the school. The school has a reputation for being academically elite - this is borne out to a certain degree. It’s certainly not the right school for every child. Independent and driven learners will thrive here."

"Very academic, sporty and fabulous pastoral care. Excellent teachers and SEN support."

According to EdStatica.com, which crunches the data we receive from parents, Dubai College is first (equal) in terms of perceptions over academic attainment (by parent rating), and third in terms of its ability to tailor learning, It is considerably lower in the table for happiness or communications. 

Find out more about parents' views by reading the Buzz.

It is clear however that DC, the name by which the school is almost unfailingly known, has not only established longevity, but also an indisputable reputation for excellence. Applicants should be aware however that with that promise of excellence comes heavy demand.

Dubai College does not have the best, or most impressive, facilities (although a range of upgrades and improvements to resources have been made in recent years), nor offers the "best education" (you would have to define what you meant by that), but it has been a top ranking school for so long that it is pretty much on every academically ambitious parents' list when choosing a school. Which is often too bad - the waiting list to get in is very long indeed.

However, a ray of light has been shed on the issue of demand, following the College's most recent renovations and the announcement of the construction of the 'C' block.  The Dubai College campus has had a significant overhaul over the past seven years, as part of what Headmaster Mr Michael Lambert referred to as ‘Project Campus 2030’. This will see an increase in the school’s capacity by 25% compared with 2015, taking it to a maximum of 1,100. 
The new, three-level building, which takes the place of the demolished C-Block, is due to be completed by June 2023 and be built over 5,200 square meters. It is described by its design team as "a collaborative, connected building where boundaries are dispensed with, and blended learning encouraged".The building will house the College's maths department, Harkness rooms, art studios and gallery, and school library. 

More: Further information can be found here.

The College is said to receive just under three applications for every place offered. While an abundance of new schools has significantly lessened the demand for places (it used to be one place per 3 to 4 applications), DC continues to attract academically oriented parents and children, as well as strong sportsmen and women. 

Admission is via a competitive entrance exam where, certainly in the past, there was no allowance made for siblings or other special circumstances.  Those offered the coveted place were either in the top 120 or so entrants admitted each year, or not. We have no reason to believe that the process has changed.

The school's reputation for academic and sporting excellence is delivered on - year in, year out.

Click for the WSA Dubai College school experience

Leadership comes in the form of Michael Lambert. Mr Lambert is clearly keen on making sure the school is known for more than academic success, and unlike his predecessor, Peter Hill, embraces old or new media to promote the school in a wider context, using both to communicate his vision for education at the college and in the UAE. 

External link: Interview, Michael Lambert, SchoolsCompared.com

In total 951 students were registered with the school at the time of its last KHDA inspection. There are just over 100 full-time teachers, including the Headmaster and the senior management team. Teacher turnover for last year we have data for (2019-2018) was 10% compared with 8% in 2014-15 and 2015-16, and 12% in 2017-18. Not the lowest, but one of the lowest teacher attrition rates we have seen. Low levels of turnover can also indicate a school where new blood would not be such a bad thing...

The school says it has 38 students with special educational needs - less than 5% of the student population. The 2018-19 report rated the provision for students with SEND as Very Good. It is not clear how much of this provision is for students who are identified as Gifted and Talented, who also fall under the SEND category. We have heard Mr. Lambert takes the view that all of the students at Dubai College fall into the G&T category.

There are also only eight Emirati students in the school's population, a very low figure.

What about the curriculum?

DC uses the English National Curriculum, offering places to students from Year Seven (‘lower school’) up to Year Thirteen (‘Sixth Form’). Middle School students (Years Ten and Eleven) study ten GCSEs alongside a short course in ICT. Once students reach Sixth Form (provided they have achieved at least five B grades at GCSE), they will choose four subjects to study. Once they move up to Year Thirteen, students may drop one of their subjects. 

The College offers a wide range of subjects at GCSE and A Level, a number of which are classical subjects - including Philosophy, Psychology and Latin - not found in other UAE schools.  This is in part to offer "facilitating subjects" previously preferred by the UK's top Russell Group universities (including Oxford and Cambridge), though this list was done away with in May 2019. For more information read this article.

A KHDA Outstanding school for seven consecutive years, recommendations for improvement focus on strengthening attainment in Arabic as a first language. Islamic Education and second language study today gets a "Good" evaluation - creditable in an international school. It is fair to say that Dubai College has invested in this area and the school has made great strides in radically transformed the teaching Arabic subjects positively following largely historic KHDA concerns.

"In Arabic as a first language, teaching has improved significantly. Teachers' subject knowledge is secure. Its lesson planning addresses the specific needs of students who are working below the levels expected for their age groups. Lessons include a range of activities which target the development of key language skills. Teachers frequently make appropriate use of oral questioning and IT to support learning."

In 2018 the verdict of the KHDA is quite telling in the context of such a limited Arab and Emirati role: "Although most students make progress in the understanding and comprehension of text and spoken dialogue, their ability and confidence to interact with fluency is variable. This is especially evident in lessons with only one student."

In the same year, governance was downgraded a touch given the frustration that Arabic language teaching was still weak, despite these interventions: "With the full support of the board, the school should draw on its expertise in additional language teaching, assessment and classroom practice to improve learning and teaching in Arabic."

The school also offers an impressive array of extra-curricular options across a wide range of creative, sporting and academic activities - Ancient Greek is one example of a more unusual option.

What about facilities?

Dubai College is located in the heart of new Dubai, in Al Sufouh, and set on nineteen acres of land. The campus of Dubai College offers many creative arts and sports facilities in addition to the regular classroom and specialist teaching facilities. The range of sports activities on offer and the competitive success of the College in the various school leagues and competitions which take place across the UAE, has recently resulted in our sister website-  www.schoolscompared.com - recognising Dubai College as one of the two Best Schools for Sports in the UAE (the other winner was Dubai English Speaking College).

The extensive provision made for physical education reflects DC's belief in the contribution it makes to a well-rounded education. This includes first class rugby, football and cricket pitches, cricket nets, four all-weather netball and tennis courts. The sports hall and swimming pool are being redeveloped during the academic year 2019-20 and will be out of action.

Specialist facilities include a science block with twenty one laboratories, three design and technology suites, ten computer suites, four art studios, a canteen and a music centre with teaching and recital areas, twelve practice rooms and a recording studio. Dubai College has been the representative for ABRSM (the Associated Board for the Royal Schools of Music) in the UAE since 1980. There are also three drama studios, a library, a dedicated Sixth Form Centre with 250 individual study bays (described as akin to a university campus by the KHDA inspection team) and a state of the art 900 seat auditorium.

A new Teaching and Learning Centre houses a 160 seat Lecture Theatre and space for collaborative learning allowing students to explore different methods of learning. A new administration block was also added in the past two years.

What about academic achievement?

In 2021, in the second year of the Covid 19 pandemic, Dubai College again effectively led the field for its A Level and GCSE results in the UAE (based on the very broad range of subjects that it offers).  For the second year also, results were awarded on the basis of the College's predicted grades for, and assessments of, its students.  

A cohort of 132 A Level students were entered for a total of 449 examinations. Of these exam entries, almost half (48.78%) were awarded A*!  81.07% of all entries were awarded A*-A, 94.65% achieved A*-C, and 100% were awarded A*-E. The highest grades achieved by an individual student was 5 awards at A*.

GCSE results were equally impressive.  A total of 123 students were entered for 1,105 examinations. Of these exam entries, 63.44% were awarded Grade 9. 83.98 of entries were awarded Grades 9-8 (A*), 95.66% were awarded Grades 9-7 (A*-A) and 100% of entries achieved Grades 9-6 (A*-B).  

There has been much discussion about grade inflation which has inevitably taken place over the past two years across all Exam Boards and curricula. The UK Department of Education plans to implement a grading process for the next two years which will ensure that the significant increase in top grades awarded is rolled back to pre-pandemic levels. It will be interesting to see how future cohorts of Dubai College students are affected by this action.

In 2020, in the first year of the Covid 19 pandemic, when students were awarded Centre Assessed Grades, Dubai College students entered for A Levels, achieved the following results:

A cohort of 126 students were entered for 414 examinations. Of these entries, 24% were awarded A*, 60% of entries achieved A*-A, 95% of entries were awarded A*-C and 100% of entries were awarded A*-E grades - a clean sweep of passes.

For GCSE entries, of which there were 1,957, entered by a cohort of 212 students, over a quarter (27.8%) were awarded Grade 9, 49.2% achieved Grades 9-8 (A*), 72.5% received Grades 9-7 (A*-A), 98.2% were awarded Grades 9-6 (A*-B) and 100% of entries achieved a pass at Grades 9-4 (A*-C).

In 2018-19, Dubai College's results at A Level were once again among the best in the country - as indeed they should be, given the selective nature of the school.  Some 131 students entered a total of 480 examinations, and achieved 62% A*-A grades. In fact, over a quarter (26%) of all entries achieved A*.  95% of all entries were graded A*-C. 

The results would situate Dubai's highest performing school within the Top 100 independent school in the United Kingdom, positioned at 55th in the ranking. 

The UK's highest ranked school, Oxford International College, achieved 91.84% A*-A, although with a cohort one-third of the size of DC. In terms of the number of students, Dubai College compares more closely with Cardiff Sixth Form College, which came second with 89.88% A*-A grades.

GCSE results were equally impressive, with 247 students sitting a total of 1,207 examinations. Of these entries, 76.6% were graded 9-8/A*, 89.8% were graded A*-A, 97.8% A*-B and 100% A*-C.  Dubai College's A*-A result would place it just outside of the top 20 schools in the UK - in 21st position. The United Kingdom's highest rated school, Westminster, achieved 98.61% A*-A grades, albeit with a cohort half the size of Dubai College.

Dubai College (DC) led the field with A Level results in Dubai in 2017 with 58 percent A* to A grades. That may be a significant drop from 2016 when DC recorded 66.8 percent A* to A grades, but there still remains a consistent 88 percent of DC's students achieving A* to B - implausibly the ninth consecutive year its students have done so.

GCSE results were similarly good with 84% of students achieving A*to A grades (9 to 7 in the new format exams) in 2017. This is an increase of 2% on last year’s results, and a 5% increase on 2015 with 82.1% of students achieving A* to A grades.

Results are of course partly the value added by the school, but partly also a result of intake. From Year 7, admission is an academically selective process involving a competitive entry exam, while entry to Year 12 is based on an interview with the Head of the Sixth Form, a minimum of five B grades at G.C.S.E.,  including Mathematics and English.

Subjects selected to be studied at 'A' Level require a grade B pass at GCSE. The exception is Mathematics, where grade A*/A is required in most cases.

The school has historically published the university destinations of its school leavers, which revealed that the majority head for UK universities, with the majority of those getting into high ranking 'Red Brick' institutions - Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Warwick, etc. Each year a number head to Oxbridge (five in 2014, 20 in 2015), as well as to the likes of London School of Economics, Durham and Kings', a smattering to continental European universities (Prague for medicine - nice!), and a handful to US universities (including the likes of Columbia, Wharton...). Very few decide to take the less and less traditional "gap year".

Recent data (2021/2022) shows an increasing number of students heading to US universities.

What the inspectors say

The school has now achieved the KHDA's Outstanding ranking for nine years in a row - a significant achievement and one of only a very small number of schools to have done so.

Students' achievement is, as would be expected, rated almost entirely Outstanding across the board - or at least in the core subjects taught in English. In common with many international schools in the UAE, the level of achievement, linked to both teaching and the curriculum, in Arabic subjects is less glowing. Whilst students' attainment and progress in both Islamic Studies and Arabic as a second language are rated Good - no mean feat - attainment in Arabic as a first language remains Weak, and progress is only Acceptable.  This has not changed since the previous inspection round. 

The only key rating that has slipped in the last inspection was for Assessment in the Secondary school which moved from Outstanding to Very Good, driven by inconsistencies in the use of assessment rubrics and feedback to students.

All other key performance measures are rated Outstanding with the exception of the provision and outcomes for Students of Determination, the school's self-assessment and planning (in relation to inconsistencies in relation to assessment) and governance (in relation to the need to ensure that the requirement to narrow the gap between Arabic and Islamic Education compared with the other subjects taught is addressed).  These measures are all rated Very Good.

The 2018-2019 KHDA inspection report notes that the strengths of the school are: 

• Under the inspirational leadership of the principal, the school successfully fulfils its mission to sustain a stimulating learning community that enables students to reach high academic standards and develop into well-rounded, caring and aspirational individuals;
• Students' attitudes, behaviour and willingness to help others, are exemplary; they respect and appreciate Islamic values and acquire excellent skills of innovation;
• Extremely effective teaching, and students' excellent learning skills, contribute to their rapid progress and high levels of attainment in most subjects;
• The imaginative and challenging curriculum engages and motivates students, and contributes to their academic achievement; when necessary appropriate adjustments are made according to students' needs;
• Attention to students' well-being, health and safety are first class, Support for students of determination and those with gifts and talents is very effective.

Key recommendations inevitably focused on the one area of weakness.  DC should:

•  Refine self-review and strategic planning in order to accelerate the achievement of students studying Arabic as a first language by - raising expectations and the level of challenge so that students make accelerated progress, [and] refining the measurement of students' progress from their starting points, taking into account their individual targets and potential; 
• Raise the attainment of students studying Arabic as an additional language by - planning the curriculum around their years of study, as detailed in the MoE framework, [and] using a wider variety of teaching strategies to ensure that students are fully engaged in purposeful learning.

The school is accredited by COBIS (the Council of British International Schools) and is also subject to British Schools Overseas inspections. The opening line of the most recent (2016) BSO evaluation is as follows:

"Dubai College is an outstanding school. It represents the very best of British education whilst, at the same time, respecting and celebrating the local culture in Dubai."

Not too shabby.  At times, DC appears to have a certain attitude of arrogance and superiority towards other educational establishments in the UAE.  However, given the school's performance, perhaps we should not be too critical!

If you would like to read the full inspection report - and we strongly recommend that you do so in order to understand the reasons behind the ratings, you can find it here. 

The Buzz

The school's achievements are also recognised by its parents participating in the WhichSchoolAdvisor.com survey who would overwhelmingly recommend it. It regularly falls in the Top 20 most recommended schools in the UAE.

The school's WSA Parent Rating was one of the highest in Dubai, although this figure has been falling (keep tabs on the score, it is updated every week and is on the top, left of this page) and current rests at 4/5 - or a positivity rating of 80% - based on feedback from 42 parents.  It may be a very good school, but its super ambitious parents will not accept anything other than what they believe is the best. Whatever achievements DC pulls off, Mr Lambert is almost doomed to a "Could do better!" report card.

Unsurprisingly, the single most important criterion for parents in choosing this school is "school results in external examinations". At the time of writing, this was the single most important of a range of factors for parents in choosing a school (at 17%), compared with the UAE average of  8% and THE most important factor for 46% of parents, compared with a UAE average of 9%! Some 95% of respondents are also satisfied with the level of academic performance at DC, compared with a UAE average of 74%. A total of 87% would unreservedly recommend DC to other parents. 

If parents have concerns that impact the overall rating for Dubai College, they would seem to be in regard to the level of feedback from the College (whilst 61% were satisfied, 31% were not sure, and 8% were dissatisfied), and similar percentages of respondents also commented on the value for money represented by the school's fees, and whilst 69% agreed that they did, 3% totally disagreed, and 28% were not sure.

Somewhat surprisingly - given the competition for places at Dubai College - 21% of parents had considered moving their child to another school.

If you are a parent, senior student or teacher at Dubai College, please share your opinion with prospective students and parents by completing our survey here.

A total of 331 parents completed the KHDA's pre-inspection survey, with 99% agreeing that they are satisfied with the standard of education provided by the school. Parents were said to hold the school in high regard, to value the open communication with teachers and leaders and the detailed feedback they receive on their children's achievement and personal development. 

Our View

Without doubt, for ambitious parents seeking the highest level of academic achievement for their children, in a school with a long history of excellence in this regard, and a thoroughly British approach, Dubai College will inevitably be high on any priority list.  Much has been made of the competition for places (and for remaining in top sets once in the school), and in the past, there had been concerns about the priority given to student well-being as a result. 

It is clear that under the current leadership, whilst the ambition to ensure that students receive the best possible education (and achieve the best possible results) is still in place, far greater focus is being given to ensure a well-rounded education (the school is highly competitive for sports and its creative and performing arts achievements are renowned) and attention to student well-being. 

Whilst the College may not suit every student, it is certainly likely to be on the short list of any parent with children who are highly academically oriented, those with a strong affinity for sport, and ideally those with both attributes . However, we would still strongly encourage you to visit the school and to see it for yourself before making a decision as to whether to follow the admission route.

What about fees?

Fees range from AED 82,482 from Year 7 to Year 11, and AED 93,399 for Years 12 and 13. Dubai College is run as a not for profit school, which does not mean that fees are any cheaper (this is a top 3 school in terms of average fees), but does mean that profit is more likely to be reinvested in higher salaries for staff, training, and facilities. 

This school is in a Best School by parents ranking

Dubai College is a Best of school, a ranking determined by parent surveys on the site. It can be found in the following Best of rankings:

• #61 in Best Schools in the UAE
• #20 in Best A Level Schools in Dubai
• #32 in Best British Schools in Dubai
• #48 in Best Schools in Dubai
• #4 in Best Ultra-premium Schools in the UAE
• #3 in Best Ultra-premium Schools in Dubai

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