The number of international private schools offering instruction primarily in English continues to surge worldwide, growing by more than 6 percent over the most recent year, as families’ incomes rise and they prepare their children for college abroad.
There are more than 9,605 “English-medium” private schools globally, and the compound-annual-growth rate of those institutions has risen by 5.6 percent over the past five years, according to a report by ISC Research, which tracks the sector.
The oil-rich United Arab Emirates has the most students served by those schools, with more than 620,000. An estimated 80 percent of the UAE’s workforce are expatriates from various countries. China is next, with more than 489,000 students in international private schools.