Dubai: Parents who raise their child in the UAE and later send them to a university outside the country can expect to spend not just hundreds of thousands, but nearly a million dirhams in their lifetime, financial experts said on Wednesday.

The latest analysis by Zurich showed that school costs for pre, primary and secondary education in the UAE alone can add up to an average of Dh528,486 per child, a slight increase on last year’s figures.

The costs don’t include miscellaneous expenses, such as books, trips and uniforms, and parents who send their child to a top tier school could see the total figure rise by up to 40 per cent.

If university costs are taken into account, parents should prepare to set aside nearly a million dirhams (Dh938,599) to cover all the necessary expenses from pre-school through to university, according to Zurich. That's up from Dh933,945 last year.

The figures were based on the total cost of education of two years at pre-school, six years at primary school, six years at secondary school and three years at a university in the United Kingdom.

The insurer’s calculation is higher than the figures released earlier by HSBC, which said that the cost of education in UAE, from primary to university, can add up to Dh365,025, already the second highest in the world.

With the education expenses rising every year, parents would do well to plan and save up for their child’s education in advance.

“It is important to start planning early to ensure enough capital is available when your child is ready to start university. Adopting a long-term approach to savings could help fund the best education for your child without worrying about the cost,” said Walter Jopp, CEO at Zurich Middle East.