In the early 1900s, three major schools were accomplished by pearl merchants in Dubayy, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah. The schools were staffed by foreign teachers who taught reading, writing, and Islamic studies. The economic crises of the 1920s and 1930s forced some of these and other schools to close, but some reopened when the economy improved.

In the early 1990s, United Arab Emirates University was being expanded, at an around outlay of Dh3 to Dh5 billion, to accommodate up to 16,000 students by the year 2000. The existing campus will become a technical college after the development is completed. The Women's Federation of the UAE provides adult literacy classes. There were 26 adult education centers in 1992. The United Nations around the UAE's literacy rate in 1988-89 as 53.5% overall, 58.4% for males and 38.1% for females. The government also operates several vocational training centers, which in the 1987-88 academic year had 2,614 students.

Primary and secondary education is free to UAE nationals and primary education is compulsory between the ages of 6 and 12. Most teachers, at all levels, are from other Arab countries. In 2001 adult literacy rates were around to be 91 %. This represents a dramatic increase since the introduction of universal public education under the UAE’s 1971 constitution.