United International Private SchoolPrincipal & Leadership Team

Principal Eunice Pascua Orzame, who has led United International Private School L.L.C since her appointment on 24 October 2022, heads a school with a long institutional history — founded in 1992, UIPS is the first and oldest Philippine curriculum school in Dubai. The DSIB 2023–2024 inspection rated leadership effectiveness as Acceptable, with inspectors noting that the principal and senior leaders are committed to school improvement and have successfully maintained the school's strengths in students' personal development. However, the inspection also identified a clear need to enhance the capacity of all school leaders to drive improvement in their respective areas of responsibility — a finding that parents should weigh carefully.

Governance was rated Good by DSIB, with the governing board described as considering stakeholder views and holding leaders to account. School self-evaluation and improvement planning were rated Acceptable, with inspectors noting that analysis of assessment data is still at an early stage and that the school's action plan has limited capacity to drive forward measurable improvements. These are substantive concerns for a school that has held an Acceptable overall rating in six of its last ten inspected years, having slipped from Good between 2015 and 2019.

On teaching quality, the picture is uneven. Inspectors found that teachers' subject knowledge is strong, particularly in Junior and Senior High, and that teaching in Senior High reaches Very Good for effective learning. However, teaching in KG and Primary was described as too often teacher-dominated, limiting active and independent learning — a recurring concern that has yet to be resolved. The school operates with 77 qualified teachers and 12 teaching assistants serving 1,823 students, producing a student-to-teacher ratio of 1:24. This is considerably higher than the Dubai city average of 1:13.6 across 204 schools, and represents a meaningful gap in individual attention capacity. Staff qualification data beyond general adequacy is [MISSING: specific percentage of staff holding postgraduate qualifications].

A significant staffing concern is teacher turnover reported at 25% — a notably high rate that risks disrupting continuity of learning, particularly for younger students who benefit most from stable relationships. The inspection did note that the school is adequately staffed with qualified teachers and that premises are well-maintained, though the library was flagged as under-resourced.

Where leadership clearly excels is in school culture and community. Parents and community engagement was rated Very Good by DSIB, with parents described as very active in supporting the school and their children's learning. Initiatives such as the 'Drop Everything and Listen' storytelling programme reflect a genuine culture of family involvement. Inspectors highlighted leaders' success in creating a positive ethos and a happy school as one of the school's four headline strengths — and students' outstanding personal and social development across all phases stands as the most consistent and impressive outcome this leadership team has delivered. Among the two Philippine curriculum schools in Dubai, both currently rated Acceptable, UIPS's community-centred culture is a genuine differentiator, even as its academic leadership capacity remains a work in progress.