In the year 2012, the first Middle East campus would be set up in Abu Dhabi, by UK independent school Dulwich College; after having rejected Dubai, which also courted the highly-reputed educational organization established almost five hundred years back.

On Friday, UAE daily the National reported that the Dulwich franchise will be set up on Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island, which is considered to be a center of culture and education in the country.

A campus of New York University, the Louvre Abu Dhabi and Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum, would be included on the island.

Fraser White, executive chairman of Dulwich's franchise programme, was quoted as saying in the newspaper: "We toured the region and, after exhaustive discussions, decided that Abu Dhabi was the right place for the college."

Both boys and girls would be admitted at the Dulwich College campus at Saadiyat. Three schools are already being operated in China, by Dulwich. The newspaper didn't say how much the school is mulling to charge the students in Abu Dhabi.

Graham Able, the headmaster of Dulwich, told the newspaper: "We decided a few years ago that we would like to take the Dulwich College brand worldwide. We felt that the ethos, standards and education of the college were worth exporting."

"It has worked well in China and has proved mutually beneficial. We do, for example, insist that all pupils learn the first language of the host country, and that has transferred back here with Dulwich now probably the best school in the UK for learning Mandarin."