Hope you are keeping safe. Kindly see below the latest edition of country updates across the MENA on latest news regarding education in the region.

Visas and Immigration

UK visa services have now resumed across all visa application centres in the Gulf. Appointments are currently limited; the Priority Visa service is only available in Gulf states with the exception of locations on the UK’s travel ban list. The Super Priority Visa Service is not yet available in any location. Services and appointment availability are being kept under regular review. Our current service standard for all visit and student visas is 15 working days. UKVI is (temporarily) issuing students with a 90-day vignette to travel and collect their BRP in the UK, instead of the usual 30-day vignette.

More information can be found here: https://www.vfsglobal.co.uk/en

Advice on entering the UK and self-isolation requirements:

https://www.gov.uk/uk-border-control

Update on National Restrictions:

Going to school or college:

Primary schools, secondary schools, and further education colleges reopened on 8^th March. In the circumstances, it is not possible for exams in the summer to go ahead. This year’s 2021 exams approach for GCSE’s, AS and A levels will require teachers to submit grades by 18 June 2021.

Going to university:

All students who have not yet returned to campus and in-person teaching will be able to do from 17^th May, at the earliest. This is in line with Step 3 of the UK Government’s roadmap where restrictions will be further eased. An estimated 49% of students are already eligible to return to in-person teaching, subject to decisions by their institutions.

On return, all students and staff are encouraged to take three supervised tests at an asymptomatic testing site on campus, where available. Students will also have access to home testing kits throughout the summer term through both the Government’s offer of free rapid LFD tests twice weekly to everyone in England, and ‘University Collect’ services, under which universities will distribute tests on campus.

All tests will be free, and all students and staff who test positive from an LFD test will need to self-isolate for 10 days, unless they receive a negative PCR test within two days.

Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/remaining-university-students-to-return-to-campus-from-step-3-of-the-roadmap-no-earlier-than-17-may

Travel advice

For travel advice, please visit https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice. We encourage institutions who are considering travelling to sign up for alerts. We are also keeping up to date with local government websites for any updates and restrictions, so kindly feel free to contact us if you need any information and we will refer you to the relevant websites.

IELTS

IELTS testing is available across the UAE. The British Council’s priority is always to ensure the safety and well-being of our test takers, employees, and the communities in which we operate. We are committed to protecting the health of our test takers, while also trying to minimise disruption to life-changing opportunities for international higher education and migration. For this reason, we are scrupulously following the instructions from authorities and are managing our activities according to official guidelines. https://www.britishcouncil.ae/en/resume-your-ielts-journey-today . 

Additionally, British Council has introduced a new learning resource GEL IELTS. Exclusively available to all British Council IELTS for UKVI test takers. As test takers complete practice, GEL IELTS will adapt and offer personalised study plan to help you get the score you need.  Access to GEL IELTS is free and unlimited for the British Council IELTS for UKVI test takers.

More information on  https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/take-ielts/prepare/ukvi-practice-tests/gel-ielts-prep

For more MENA updates, webinars, market insights and other IES services, please go to your alerts settings and select updates from MENA. If you have any feedback or require any additional information, please contact me on dina.kanan@ae.britishcouncil.org

Thank you and stay safe

Dina Kanan

UAE Manager, International Education Services

Egypt:

Egypt concludes school year for most educational stages at the end of April

https://education-services.britishcouncil.org/news/market-news/egypt-concludes-school-year-most-educational-stages-end-of-april

Contact Information

For more information about Egypt, please contact Sahar Khamis, Head of Education Programmes, Egypt (Sahar.khamis@britishcouncil.org.eg)

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

King’s College to be first UK independent school to open in Saudi Arabia

The Royal Commission for Riyadh City (RCRC) announced today signing of a partnership with King's College to open the first international school in Riyadh this year, to be the first school within the framework of the RCRC’s International Schools Attraction Program, which was launched in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Investment.
President of the RCRC Fahd bin Abdulmohsen Al-Rasheed said that the opening of King's College Riyadh comes within the framework of the strategy of Riyadh city to strengthen the educational sector, as it will reflect the commitment of the RCRC with its partners to provide educational opportunities for Saudi and non-Saudi students, pointing out that this comes in line with the ambitious Saudi Vision 2030.

Read full news: https://www.spa.gov.sa/viewfullstory.php?lang=en&newsid=2223534

Contact Information

For more information about KSA, please contact Rizwan Safdar, Project Manager, (Rizwan.Safdar@sa.britishcouncil.org)

UAE:

UAE Ministry of Education curriculum schools to start final exams from June 8

https://gulfnews.com/uae/education/uae-ministry-of-education-curriculum-schools-to-start-final-exams-from-june-8-1.78850734

Dubai students getting more sleep,enjoy closer relationships with teachers

https://www.khaleejtimes.com/news/dubai-students-getting-more-sleep-enjoy-closer-relationships-with-teachers

13 universities to look out for September admissions

https://gulfnews.com/uae/education/13-universities-to-look-out-for-september-admissions-1.1619595715258

Contact Information

For more information, please contact Dina Kanan, UAE Manager, International Education Services (dina.kanan@ae.britishcouncil.org)