JEDDAH — Now in its seventh year, the International and Private Schools Education Forum (IPSEF) has provided a unique international forum for private sector school owners and educators, governments, investors and education service providers to share best practice, identify innovative education models, and address the key strategic issues related to the delivery of non-state education. Since its launch IPSEF has been delivered in Dubai, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and London. Ahead of the three-day forum in Dubai that opens today (Sept. 29), Rhona Greenhill, Co-Founder, IPSEF, said attending the gathering is beneficial as it is an opportunity for IPSEF “to help you find the partners you need to work with on a new school project. The entire ‘supply chain' is there from investors, architects, regulators, curriculum providers, recruiters, facility manager, ICT and learning content providers, consultants and project managers. IPSEF is a unique business-to-business event for the private education sector.” She added that a wide variety of topics and case histories relevant to the market in the Middle East and globally will be discussed. She underlined the contribution of IPSEF to the advancement of the education sector in the region, saying that “by having an annual event and discussing relevant concerns with regard to the growth in international private schools, IPSEF provides a unique opportunity for all the stakeholders involved in a new school project to meet and discuss the key issues they will face, and most importantly identify partners they can work with.” Regarding the education developments in Saudi Arabia, Greenhill, citing an ISC Research Market Intelligence Report for Saudi Arabia, said “student enrolment at international schools in Saudi Arabia has risen by 196% since 2009. In addition, there is little spare capacity at the leading international schools in Saudi Arabia, and that capacity will be filled within a year at the current rate of growth in enrolment.” ISC Research further indicated that “this is not only as a result of the demand from expatriates in the country, demand from wealthy Saudi families wishing to enroll their children at English-medium schools is (also) rising. An increasing number of international schools are opening to cater for this demand from the wealthy local families.” And because of these demands, the research study said the international schools market in Saudi Arabia will almost certainly continue to grow. According to data from ISC Research, the leading provider of data and intelligence on the world's English-medium international schools market, the number of international schools in Saudi Arabia has grown from 87 in 2009 to 245 today, with 255,500 students. Jeddah and Riyadh are the leading cities. Against this backdrop, ISC Research said the key challenges for international schools in Saudi Arabia are a shortage of male teachers at primary level, and the ministry of education's requirements for schools to employ more Saudi teachers, and the minimum space on which new schools can be built, among others. — SG
