GEMS Education unveils Dh2b UAE expansion, adding 20,000 seats with focus on AI and wellbeing.
GEMS Education is entering the new academic year with a continued focus on connection, artificial intelligence, future readiness and academic standards, while advancing a major expansion plan that will add 20,000 student seats across the UAE over the next three years.
The education group has already added 5,000 seats, with further capacity expected through new schools and expansions of existing campuses.
Dinesh Varkey, Group CEO of GEMS Education, told Gulf News that the organisation’s overarching strategy remains unchanged as it enters the third year of its three-year strategic cycle.
“I don’t think our strategic priorities as an organisation have necessarily changed, right? It’s always been around academic excellence, operational excellence, and a strong GEMS family. And for us, we were running that on a three-year cycle. This is the start of year three.”
However, the new academic year will bring a continued emphasis on initiatives spanning academics, co-curricular activities, technology, family engagement and student wellbeing.
For Lisa Crausby OBE, Chief Education Officer at GEMS Education, the new academic year begins with a focus on culture.
“First and foremost, it’s all around culture, making sure that we’re setting the right culture out both for our families, our teachers and obviously for our students who are the heart of everything we do,” she said.
The focus is on creating an environment where students feel connected, supported and ready to learn as they return to school.
“And so, the first big element is making sure that we’re reuniting, you know, that our students are making friends, that they feel happy, they feel safe, they feel heard, they feel seen.”
Crausby said GEMS is also working to make expectations and communication clearer across its schools, particularly as new teachers and students join the organisation. The group has also planned activities and events designed to strengthen human connections between teachers, students and families.
“We’ve got activities and events planned to kind of increase that human connection, whether that is teacher to students, whether it’s families with our students, whatever it is, we’ve got lots of examples of where we’re going to bring that to life this year.”
AI enters the classroom, but with guardrails
Artificial intelligence will be another key focus during the academic year, although its use among younger students will remain restricted in line with UAE government requirements.
Students below the age of 13 will not use AI in the classroom.
Crausby said there is still value in teaching younger students about AI, particularly its benefits and risks, without allowing them to depend on the technology to produce answers. She also stressed the importance of putting safeguards in place as GEMS expands its use of AI.
“And obviously, I mentioned earlier about the guardrails around AI, so it’s important that everything’s done safely.”
Across the wider GEMS network, AI and EdTech will be introduced carefully throughout the academic year. However, technology will not replace the emphasis on human relationships. Instead, GEMS views it as one part of a broader approach to preparing students for life beyond the classroom.
Future-ready students and the ‘genius’ in every child
Among the initiatives being strengthened this year are Beyond 100 and Determine Genius.
Crausby said Beyond 100 will introduce “some micro habits that our students in schools will be doing every single day to live a long, happy, healthy life.”
Determine Genius, meanwhile, is designed to identify and nurture students’ entrepreneurial potential.
“In addition to that, we have another initiative around Determine Genius, and this is about finding the genius in that entrepreneurial spirit in every child, putting a laser-sharp focus on future readiness more than anything.”
The focus on future readiness will also bring greater emphasis on critical thinking, metacognition and helping students develop deeper expertise through co-curricular opportunities.
5,000 seats added as GEMS plans 20,000 more
Alongside changes within its schools, GEMS is continuing to invest heavily in physical capacity as demand for education grows across the UAE.
Varkey said the group has already delivered 5,000 new student seats.
“So we’ve just delivered 5,000 new student seats. So Founders’ November is obviously the most significant one, but extensions of existing schools, First Point, Cambridge, extensions of World Academy in Abu Dhabi.”
“The group’s longer-term plan is considerably larger. Our plan is to add about 20,000 seats over the course of three years.”
Varkey said the expansion represents an investment of Dh2 billion over the same period. A significant majority of the new capacity will target the value and affordable segments of the market, although GEMS also expects to continue adding premium schools.
Most of the UAE expansion is expected to be concentrated in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“So that’s where we see it. And then look, yeah, across Dubai and Abu Dhabi is where we see sort of most of that growth as well.”
Varkey said the group continues to see demand across different segments of the education market.
Recruitment and retaining talent
Despite the competitive education market, GEMS said teacher recruitment is not currently a major challenge.
Crausby said the group continues to attract teaching applicants from around the world, with a strong focus on both professional quality and cultural fit.
“We don’t really have an issue with recruiting teachers when we look at the data. It’s quite a phenomenal process. With the English National Curriculum, our leaders go to England and recruit from there, and we get lots of applicants wanting to join GEMS.”
GEMS recruited 1,550 teachers this year, according to Crausby. The group is also focused on developing talent internally through instructional coaching and leadership development programmes.
“Obviously we want high-calibre teachers, we want knowledgeable teachers, teachers that will fit into our values, our moral imperative, you know, working the extra mile for students in an environment that makes them flourish and thrive.”
She said the group’s instructional coaching model also helps teachers strengthen their skills while creating opportunities for career development and internal progression.
Looking beyond the UAE
While the UAE remains central to GEMS’ investment strategy, the group is also exploring opportunities for growth in international markets.
Varkey said the organisation wants to continue investing alongside the UAE’s expansion and provide high-quality education for families choosing to build their lives in the country.
“And then, look, our investment thesis or our ambition for the UAE hasn’t changed. It continues as it always has. So, we continue to want to invest alongside the growth of the UAE and to make sure that we’ve got extraordinary education for the families that choose to build their lives here.”
Beyond the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other international markets are expected to play a role in the group’s expansion plans.
“I think as we look to expand into other markets, obviously adjacent growth markets like Saudi Arabia. Like other countries are gonna be important to us.”
GEMS is also expanding its managed-school business, known as GSM, which allows the organisation to use its education expertise to operate schools on behalf of external clients.
“And then further afield, look, it’s using or leveraging GSM, which is our managed school vertical.”
“So, Gen School Management, GSM is our managed school vertical. Yeah, look, that’s just us leveraging our intellectual property to manage schools for our clients.”
Varkey said the group aims to have operations across 24 countries by the end of the year.
