BridgeU In Brief: 8th November, 2023

Why is the Middle East one of the fastest growing hotspots for international schools in the world??

For expatriate and local families living in the region, international schools are often seen as a gateway to a wider range of global higher education pathways and scholarship opportunities.?

The cross-cultural and multi-curricula learning environment of an international school is also perceived to be great preparation for life on a university or college campus overseas.

And in a time when a lot of universities look for applicants who can demonstrate a range of extra-curricular interests, many international schools offer a wider range of arts, creative and sports-related activities.?

In 2024 and 2025, we’re expecting over 3,200 international school students from across the Middle East to enrol at a higher education institution via the BridgeU platform.?

Our growing international schools community across the Middle East offers us some valuable insights into how universities can and should build a localised recruitment strategy in the region.?

This week, we were thrilled to launch our first ‘Building the BridgeU’ event in Dubai. This comes at a time when the UAE has become home to the largest international schools sector in the region, with ISC Research recently putting the tally at over 700 schools.?

‘Building the Bridge’ is the first event that truly signifies the three pillars that make BridgeU so uniquely placed to help universities to build a more localised recruitment strategy that’s more aligned to students’ needs.

So as the event draws to a close, what did we learn about some of the key trends in our Middle East international school community?

Here are two of the headline trends taking shape on our platform right now.

4-point GPA and IB are the most popular curricula

When we last examined curriculum trends across our international school community in the Middle East, the International Baccalaureate was the most popular curriculum, both in terms of the proportion of international students studying it, and the percentage of BridgeU schools offering it.?

While the highest proportion of international school students are studying the IB curriculum (45%), the US 4 point GPA curriculum is the most likely to be offered by BridgeU schools. Specifically, 68% of BridgeU schools offer students the option to work towards this curriculum.?

But this change only serves as a reminder that students will have multiple curriculum paths to choose from, with some larger schools even offering students the choice of different campuses for different curricula.?

As we discussed in the introduction, the range of curricula on offer for students in the Middle East means that they, in turn, have a broad range of higher education options at their fingertips as they explore life after secondary school.?

It also means that universities worldwide must continue to pay attention to how a student’s school curriculum may shape their experience of the admissions process.?

Are you signposting how your entry requirements map to a particular student’s curriculum of study?

The UK has overtaken the USA as the most popular destination country

The UK has overtaken the USA as the most popular destination country in for international students in the Middle East between 2023 and 2024.?

The number of BridgeU students shortlisting UK institutions has increased by 3% between 2023 and 2024, with 26% of students looking to enrol at UK institutions, followed by the US on 23%, then Canada on 11% and the UAE itself on 7%.?

This stat only serves to remind us how much competition universities face, not just amongst their counterparts in their own country, but globally.

What's new at BridgeU

• You can read our full findings on current international school trends in the Middle East here.
• If you missed our webinar on how BridgeU is helping UK universities to invest in a more long-term undergraduate enrolment strategy, you can watch the recording here

What's caught our eye this week

• Last week we talked about findings from the International Higher Education Commission about how UK universities could become more globally minded in their approach to internationlisation. Now, PIE News reports that a similar organisation has been set up in the USA, designed to promote international student success on US campuses.

Get in touch

If you'd like to learn more about our work with international schools in the Middle East, or would like to talk about how we can help you grow your international school partnerships in key regions of the world, get in touch with us.