IB World Schools in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Are you looking for an International Baccalaureate World School in the United Arab Emirates? Here you can find a list of UAE schools that have a profile in the IB World Schools Yearbook.

The schools featured below offer at least one of the IB's four programmes: the Primary Years Programme (PYP), Middle Years Programme (MYP), Diploma Programme (DP) and Career-related Programme (CP). You can use the search filter below to look for schools that offer one programme in particular.

Among the UAE’s 53 IB World Schools, 49 offer the International Baccalaureate Diploma. For a full list of IB World Schools in the UAE, see the IB's website.

There are also schools following German, French, Swiss, Japanese, Australian, Canadian, Indian, Pakistani, American and British curriculums, which some offer alongside the IB. MADAR International School offers the American state of Ohio’s high school programme. 

The UAE’s economy has grown exponentially since independence in 1974 and it has invested heavily in education. Numerous reforms of the public education system have been enacted and four education hub initiatives have been launched to attract foreign universities. 

The small, oil-rich state on the Persian Gulf has one of the highest net migration rates in the world, and Emiratis make up around 11.5 per cent of its estimated 9.5 million residents, with expatriates, including large South Asian and Arab communities, accounting for the rest.

More than 200 international schools centred on Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, and Ras Al-Khaimah provide the expatriate population with a wide variety of educational options. Most are English-medium, coeducational day schools and a few take girls only. 

Education is compulsory from age five to 18 and free to Emiratis. State schools, which teach in Arabic and are segregated by gender, are open to expatriates, who have to pay fees and pass an admission test conducted in Arabic. Primary and secondary education each last six years, with the latter equally divided into upper and lower stages. 

IB World Schools are part of a thriving international school sector in the United Arab Emirates. For information on all Japanese international schools, you can visit: www.internationalschoolsearch.com