New York’s Dwight School Plans New Campus—in Dubai

Leslie Brody:

As the private Dwight School in Manhattan gears up to open a new campus, it is recruiting dozens of American teachers with perks such as free housing and tuition for their children.

The rub is that the new site is almost 7,000 miles away in Dubai, a city on the Persian Gulf where summer days often top 105 degrees, public kissing by couples is frowned upon and women are expected to dress conservatively.

Jaya Bhavnani, a 65-year-old science teacher at Dwight’s Upper West Side campus who has lived in Dubai before, says she is thrilled to be joining the school’s newest branch. “It’s the most Westernized city in the Middle East, as long as you can respect some basic social norms” while there, Ms. Bhavnani said.

Dwight is among the latest schools to venture into Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, a federation of monarchies where Islam is the official religion. A fast-growing business hub, Dubai has 299 English-language international options for preschool through high school, more than any other city in the world. They cater largely to transient expats and local families seeking educations they believe will prepare their children to get into top universities in the U.S. and elsewhere—as well as careers in a global economy.

Dubai’s embrace of English-language international schools is part of a proliferation, especially in the Middle East and Eastern Asia. Now 9,319 operate world-wide, up from 2,584 in 2000, according to ISC Research, which tracks such data. They serve more than 5 million students in preschool through high school and earn more than $47 billion in fees. The group predicts these numbers will nearly double in a decade.