Dubai private schools rank among world's top 10 in PISA 2025

Dubai's private schools have ranked among the world’s top 10 education systems by the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2025, with significant gains in reading, mathematics and science.

Administered every three years by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), PISA evaluates the knowledge and skills of 15-year-old students.

Dubai’s private schools ranked sixth globally in reading, with an average score of 501 points, and came in eighth in mathematics and science, recording average scores of 511 points and 522 points, respectively.

The results represent significant improvement across all assessed domains compared with the 2022 cycle, when Dubai’s private schools ranked ninth globally in mathematics, thirteenth in reading and fourteenth in science.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE, and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, said investing in the education sector remains a key priority for the UAE.

Private schools also ranked ninth globally in computational problem solving, with an average score of 534 points, outperforming the OECD average by 34 points. Introduced as a new domain in PISA 2025, computational problem solving assesses students’ ability to use computational tools and practices to explore ideas, build knowledge and solve complex problems.

Sheikh Hamdan congratulated Dubai’s education community, including schools, teachers, students and parents, on the achievement, noting that the results reflect their collective efforts to build an education system capable of achieving globally competitive outcomes.

Dubai’s private schools have participated in PISA since 2009, recording sustained improvement across six consecutive assessment cycles. Over this period, average scores have increased by 37 points in mathematics, 22 points in reading, and 36 points in science.

Emirati students recorded notable gains across all assessed domains in PISA 2025 compared with 2022, improving by an average of 31 points in mathematics, 30 points in science, and 18 points in reading.

Across the curricula offered by Dubai’s private schools, students enrolled in International Baccalaureate (IB) schools achieved the highest average performance, recording 557 points in science, 542 points in mathematics, and 538 points in reading.

A total of 9,600 students from 168 Dubai private schools participated in PISA 2025. More than 760,000 students from over 90 countries and economies took part in the assessment.