Investor interest in the country’s education sector may be down, but the Madbouly government is working on a plan to change that. In recent years, private investment in the education sector has slowed due to high costs and regulatory constraints limiting profitability, industry players told EnterpriseAM. To address this and bring back investors — and their capital — the government now plans to introduce investment incentive packages for both higher and pre-university education.

The state is hoping the plan will help attract EGP 90.6 bn in private investment in education this fiscal year, up over 60% from the EGP 56 bn last fiscal year, according to a government document seen by EnterpriseAM.

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The hoped-for private investment will bring total targeted investments for the sector to EGP 154.1 bn, including some EGP 63.4 bnearmarked for public investments in education services for the fiscal year, according to the Economic and Social Development Plan from the Planning and International Cooperation Ministry. The Education Ministry has also set its sights on hiring 30k teachers and contracting 50k part-time teachers.

The government has been working since last year to design incentives to attract private investors, given rising public spending and insufficient government-only investment amid population growth, two government sources in the education sector told EnterpriseAM. Incentive packages are being prepared to encourage the establishment of technological universities aligned with labor market needs, Supreme Council for Technological Education Secretary-General Ahmed El Gioshy told EnterpriseAM.

The current focus is on incentivizing private and international universities through tax and procedural benefits to encourage new projects, a Higher Education Ministry source told EnterpriseAM. The government is also preparing an incentives package for private investors to build at least one new private university annually, alongside expanding technological universities to 29, and increasing private investment in vocational, hospitality, technological, and industrial schools in the coming years, according to the government document seen by EnterpriseAM.

The rate of new private schools opening has decreased — but a lot of schools are still opening their gates. Around 800 private schools opened in the 2020-2021 academic year, followed by 500 more schools in the 2021-2022 academic year, and then by 600 schools for each of the following two academic years. The 2023-2024 academic year saw some 11.1k private schools and 50.4k state schools operating.

Why the slowdown? Sector players say strict requirements from the schools-focused General Authority for Educational Buildings and the Supreme Council of Private Universities drive up costs. The issue isn’t just that fewer licenses are getting provided for new schools, but also investors exiting the sector due to rising operational costs, Private School Owners Association Deputy Chairman Badawy Allam told EnterpriseAM.

How much does building a school cost? One investor in the sector told EnterpriseAM that the cost of establishing a single school — in line with the requirements of the authority — now stands at EGP 500 mn amid rising land, construction, and equipment costs. Investment in the education sector is not profitable, according to the investor, reflecting what the source said has been a common sentiment.

Many investors in the sector are now focused on expanding international schools due to the faster return on investment within a limited number of years and a quicker path to profitability. In contrast, demand in the sector is instead driven by parents looking for private schools with annual fees ranging from EGP 30k-50k.

Investors are already making their demands clear, which include activating the golden license system in education to fast-track permits, according to our investor source. The golden license system, which has already made a big impact on supporting new manufacturing projects, also lists education as a targeted sector for the initiative. However, it hasn’t played as large a role in the education sector as of yet.

Education investors would also like to see land being offered at competitive prices and through new allocation mechanisms, we were told. Our source also called for the gradual application of minimum wage rules to ease financial pressure on schools, in addition to reducing fees and granting temporary tax exemptions.

Investors also want changes on the regulation front, including revising construction requirements, especially in dense governorates with limited land. To ensure a longer period of returns, education investors are also calling for usufruct rights for schools under public-private partnerships to expand to 50 years.

Your top education stories for the week:

  • Alexandria University will open its Abu Dhabi campus at the start of the 2025-2026 academic year, which will offer programs in health, engineering, computer science, business, and the humanities, alongside professional courses and joint degrees with international universities.
  • The Education Ministry inked a host of education agreements with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, covering training programs for teachers, support for students with special needs, and the expansion of technical and applied schools in Egypt.
  • The Education Ministry signed a cooperation protocol with Casio Middle East to train middle school math teachers, an MoU with SAPIX to develop the math curriculum for all grades, and an MoU with Yamaha Corporation to launch a music pilot project.
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