The People of the United Arab Emirates, Education

Primary and secondary education is free to UAE nationals and primary education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 12. Most teachers, at all levels, are from other Arab countries. In 2001 adult literacy rates were estimated to be 91 percent. This represents a dramatic increase since the introduction of universal public education under the UAE’s 1971 constitution. The United Arab Emirates University in Al ‘Ayn opened in 1977 with 519 students; by the mid-1990s it had an enrollment of about 12,000 students, about three-fourths of them women. In 1988 four colleges of technology, two for men and two for women, were opened for UAE nationals. Considerable numbers of Emiris, largely men, study abroad. The general quality of education ranks well in comparison with other developing societies.