Dubai: Dr Abdullah Al Karam, Chairman and Director General of the Knowledge and Human Development Authority, officially opened the Education Investment Mena conference in Dubai on Tuesday.

The four-day conference this year identifies how to increase investment in education across the board, from premium kindergarten to grade 12 schooling, through to higher education, vocational, special educational needs and Ed-Tech.

The opening panel discussion, ‘Positioning the Middle East as a global hub for educational capital’, featured Dino Varkey, Group Executive Director and Board Member of GEMS Education, Victor Sa’ad, Vice-President and Board Member of SABIS®, and Svava Bjarnasson, Principal Education Specialist, International Finance Corporation.

Education Technology is a major theme of the Education Investment MENA conference this year, it will run until November 13 at The Address Hotel Dubai Mall.

In an afternoon session today, Dr Ali Al Hakami, Founder and President of INMA Education in Saudi Arabia, joined Khaltoom Al Beloushi, Director of Institutional Development at the KHDA, to discuss the diverse requirements of countries within the MENA region when providing education services.

Dr Al Hakami said: “Investors need to understand their local markets very well because every country has its own specific regulations and requirements. It is not enough to have great products and services; investors need to align their strategies and make their offering relevant to the country.

“Emphasis now is on internet connectivity, computers, tablets, educational media apps as well as lab equipment. A large amount of funding is now dedicated to educational technology in Saudi Arabia.”

The second day of the conference will include a session from Alun Yorath, Principal at Brighton College Abu Dhabi, who will discuss how to build a successful educational brand in the Middle East.

He said: “We will explore the key pitfalls at set up and how to ensure that the integrity of the educational brand is protected. We will examine what makes your brand unique, how you can get this message across to potential parents, how you can ensure that you reach your target market for enrolment and that pupil and parent ‘buy in’ to your brand is successful over the initial opening phase.”