Client Situation
Our client was a public, unlisted company wholly owned by a prominent University in Australia. The client wished to divest a significant minority stake in the University and was in talks with potential investors. As part of the exercise, the client aspired to provide its potential investors with an overall understanding of the higher education sector in the UAE, focusing on the current size, market potential, key players, new entrants, programs offered,etc.
Cedar’s Approach
Cedar was mandated to provide the client with an in-depth assessment of the UAE Higher Education market, coupled with strategic insights to leverage, as an aid to penetration within the market. Following were the activities conducted by Cedar:
- Cedar conducted a detailed analysis on the education market & trends were estimated to measure the effects of any economic downturns that the market could face in the future
- The size & structure of the UAE education market was determined, to understand the target market and estimated share in the market that the client could penetrate
- It was found that weak linkages existed between Higher & Lower levels of educational institutions, which the University could pioneer in bridging
- The education of local communities, societal and human development needs, skill readiness for employment of Emiratis in the private sector were all analyzed to identify various opportunities
- Competitive benchmarking was conducted in order to understand the opportunities that the client can capitalize upon & the threats they ought to neutralize
- An overall SWOT analysis was conducted for the client to understand their capabilities better
Outcome
Cedar provided the following recommendations:
- An opportunity to promote the HR program offering with the HR Industry in the UAE predicted to gain prominence in the wake of restructuring & layoffs
- The potential to offer super specialization/electives within the MBA program was recognized
- Opportunities were identified for the University to promote executive education during the wake of an economic slowdown & layoffs
- Insights on various strategies to grow enrolments for existing programs as well as new programs/specializations, with the aid of regional marketing initiatives, were formulated
- Need for agility in adapting fee increases/decreases to meet revenue/enrolment goal
- Business process improvements to maximize efficiencies and control costs
- Leveraging on current strengths of the University namely, location, research capabilities, etc