UAE is a vibrant economy that is one of the fastest economies in the ME region. As per the latest statistics, the Emirate of Dubai has extraordinarily high levels of university applications among high school graduates with 80 percent of male and 95 percent of female graduates applying to institutions of higher education locally or abroad. Students living here are from diverse cultural backgrounds and the country boasts of a bouquet of curricula at the school level.
World over, education is one of the vital sectors for the development of a nation and it is even more important in the Middle East – where one in every three people living in the region is between the ages of 10 and 24. United Nations Development Program statistics put current GCC population growth at 3.5% per annum – one of the highest in the world – with 60% of the GCC’s total population of 35.14 million currently under 16 years of age.

The decision to study abroad is a major life changing decision for most students and the plethora of options to choose from make it quite a daunting task for most.

We enable students make their choices based on their interest, needs, academic profile, values, aptitude, financial capability and maturity level. We support students and their families throughout the admission process and provide unlimited sessions of one to one counselling. Our students are empowered to make informed choices to achieve their career and academic dreams.

In the last five years, Counselling Point has served more than 800 students, reached out to over 25,000 individuals - students, teachers and families through articles written in the media, talks, seminars, counselling sessions and events organized. Countries in which students have been placed include India, Singapore, US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. (This includes the period the Director was working as an independent Counsellor) Since the organization is a start up company, all this has been achieved without aggressive campaigning or marketing. It has been made possible through tireless effort and a strong commitment to the cause of education and well-being.
Most of Counselling Point’s clients come to us through referrals. We find that our students are our brand ambassadors and it is their families who send us prospective students/clients. Almost all marketing is word of mouth. Counselling Point has good rapport with Embassies and Consulates of India and other countries. This positive relationship also brings in clients in the form of international recruiters and exhibition organizers.
Being a social enterprise, Counselling Point charges a nominal professional fee. So far, the clients whether individuals, students, institutions or families paid a professional fee towards services offered as we haven’t been accepting commissions.

Rema Menon V is the Founder and Director of Counselling Point. She has a Masters Degree in Medical and Psychiatric Social Work from University of Madras, Stella Maris College and a Bachelors Degree in Home Science from Madras University, Women’s Christian College, Tamil Nadu, India. She has over 20 years of experience. For the past nine years Ms. Menon has been working in the area of Personal and Career Counselling in Dubai, U.A.E. She began her career in Dubai as the Counsellor at The Indian High School, Dubai and gained valuable experience working with students of grades 5 to 12. She has also worked as a private consultant and education adviser before setting up Counselling Point.

Menon writes regularly for Gulf New - Notes on Education, careers and Training. Additionally, she is an adjunct teacher at the Sharjah Women’s College, teaching a course in Counselling skills for the Bachelors program in Career Advising and Counselling in the Education Department.
Before coming to the Gulf, for over a decade she worked in the area of non institutional support services for children at Institutions like Indian Council for Child Welfare -Tamil Nadu and Indian Assn. for Promotion of Adoption and Child Welfare, Mumbai. She is a life member of both organizations.
In 2004, Ms. Menon founded Counselling Point, the first educational advising and counselling centre of its kind in the Middle East.

Over the last year few years, Counselling Point has built trust and credibility with its audiences and established strong relations with academic institutions and government agencies. Some of the students placed by Conselling Point are now pursuing higher education in institutions in USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, India and Australia. Ms. Menon is the founder President of the Stella Maris Alumnae Assn., UAE Chapter and one of the founder members of Counselling Arabia, a network of Counselling professionals in the Middle East Region (www.counsellingarabia.org). She is also a member of NAFSA, for International Educators.