Tutoring Services License and Business Setup in Dubai

In the UAE, learning doesn't stop at the school gate. Adults take Arabic classes on weekends. Professionals fill executive workshops on weekdays. Teenagers cram for SATs after class.

Pilots, drivers, lifeguards, and coders all sit in classrooms long after they have earned a degree. Specialised education and training is the licensed home for all of this, the activity that covers every kind of learning even including what fits outside of a school or university curriculum. 

Education is a serious business in the UAE. In Dubai alone, private schools educate 387,441 students across 227 campuses, with sector enrolment growing 6 percent in the 2024-25 academic year, according to Gulf News^¹.

The private higher education segment is also on a record run, reaching 42,026 students at 41 institutions in 2024-25, a 20 percent rise in a single year, according to Gulf News^². For non-formal education businesses, that's a large, growing, and quality-conscious demand base to sell into.

Education in the UAE is not a side market. It is one of the largest and fastest-growing consumer sectors in the country, and the demand for learning extends well beyond schools and universities.

Sources: Gulf News (2025); Gulf News (2025).

An Other Education business provides instruction outside the formal K-12 and university system. It is a focused training business: structured courses in defined subjects, delivered by qualified instructors, to people who actively choose to learn.

Students preparing for exams, professionals looking to upskill, adults learning new languages, and individuals taking specialty courses such as driving, flying, or computer use all rely on these businesses to fill the gaps that formal education does not address.

Look at what learning actually looks like in the UAE on a Tuesday evening. A bank manager finishing his Arabic conversation class. A teenager practicing speed reading drills with a tutor over Zoom. A new resident from Manila taking a driving course at a Dubai centre.

A young engineer working through a coding bootcamp on a Saturday morning. A retiree learning Quranic recitation. None of it is formal schooling. All of it is education. The UAE has a deep, broad culture of learning outside the K-12 and university track, and this activity is the regulatory home for businesses that build courses, hire trainers, and serve that demand.

From driving schools to language centres to corporate-trainer studios, Other Education is the regulatory home of the UAE's deep, working culture of learning outside formal schools.

[blockCTABizSetupRemotely]

Who is this for?

• Specialised training centres: Operators of training centres covering language, IT, public speaking, or technical skills.
• Tutoring and supplementary education providers: Operators of tutoring and supplementary education centres for students of all ages.
• Adult learning businesses: Course providers focused on adult learners in driving, languages, religious instruction, or computer skills.

Meydan Free Zone offers 100% foreign ownership, zero percent corporate tax on qualifying income, full profit repatriation, and a fully digital licensing process, providing a regulated and cost-efficient base from which to operate a non-formal education or specialised training business in the UAE's growing, quality-conscious learning market.

[blockCTATradeLicense]

8549.00 - Other Education n.e.c.

Under this activity, your business is licensed to provide instruction and specialised training that sits outside the formal academic system.

Some closely related activities sit elsewhere in the classification. Adult literacy programmes are classified separately. So are general secondary education, higher education, and cultural education such as music or fine arts schools that form part of formal education. Driving schools for occupational drivers fall under a different activity from civilian driving schools.

The line is precise. If your business provides instruction or specialised training outside the formal K-12 and university system, you are in. If you run an academic school or university, deliver adult literacy programmes, or operate cultural education such as a music or fine arts school, a different activity applies.

Third-Party Approval: No third-party approval is required for this business activity.

Anti-Money Laundering Compliance: This business activity is exempt from AML compliance requirements.

[blockCTABizActivityList]

Citations

¹ Gulf News. Education Cost Index Set at 2.35% for Dubai's For-Profit Private Schools in 2025-26 Academic Year. Gulf News, 2025.

² Gulf News. Dubai KHDA: International Students Now Make Up 35% of Private University Student Body. Gulf News, 2025.

‍