Our story
One home for every step of a child's education journey, worldwide.
GlobalCompass exists to give expat and internationally mobile families a single, trustworthy guide — from the first nursery search to the final university pathway.
Over 281 million people live outside the country they were born in (IOM World Migration Report, 2024). GlobalCompass exists for their children.
Why we exist
The gap we saw firsthand
Expat and internationally mobile families face a genuinely hard problem: choosing the right school, the right curriculum, and the right pathway for their child, often while adjusting to a completely new country and system at the same time. Without a single trustworthy guide, this becomes a confusing, expensive process built on scattered forums, word of mouth, and guesswork.
GlobalCompass was built to close that gap — starting in the UAE, with real, verified data, and a genuine intent to grow honestly, market by market, worldwide.
Our founder
Built from lived experience, not assumption
GlobalCompass is built by Susselt Iris Alvarez, a former IB teacher and mother, based in Dubai for over 30 years. GlobalCompass was founded and is based in the UAE — the country Susselt calls home, and the place where this platform first took shape. It's a genuinely personal project — developed hands-on, with AI assistance, despite no formal technical background.
"I saw, as a teacher and as a mother, how much confusion expat families carry — not because they don't care, but because no single place ever explained it all clearly. GlobalCompass is the resource I wished existed."
What makes us different
A real bridge, not just a directory
GlobalCompass isn't only a school-search engine. Its heart is the bridge most families don't know they need until it's too late — the transition from choosing a curriculum in the early years to understanding, years later, exactly what a target university actually requires.
This gap costs real families real money. Every year, parents spend on exams their child never needed to sit, and on placement agencies charging steep fees for guidance that should be freely available. GlobalCompass's University Pathways and University Requirements Checker exist to close that gap — with real, sourced answers, not guesswork or upsells.
This is a genuinely underserved space globally, and it's the reason GlobalCompass exists at all.
Early Years
Nursery directories by educational philosophy — Montessori, British EYFS, Reggio Emilia, Forest School
Schools
Real, verified search and comparison across the UAE, Australia and Brazil — real schools and growing
Curricula
Full guides to all 9 major world curricula, plus a quiz to help families choose
Track My Scores
Real curriculum performance, mapped to real university pathway clarity
SEND Compass
A need-based, warmly designed guide to support for children with additional needs
Community Action Board
Real education projects worldwide, and how families can help
Countries & Forum
Explore by region, and connect with other expat and mobile families
Universities
University Requirements Checker (Beta) — real, sourced answers on what each university needs, growing one institution at a time
Why families choose us
What you actually get
One trustworthy source, not a dozen tabs
Real, verified data — sourced directly from KHDA, ADEK, ACARA and INEP, never scraped or guessed — so you're comparing facts, not marketing.
See the whole journey, not just the next step
From choosing a curriculum to knowing what a target university actually requires, GlobalCompass connects decisions that usually get made in isolation.
Free, because that's the point
Every core tool — school search, curriculum guides, Track My Scores, the University Requirements Checker — stays free for families, always.
Our values
What we stand for
Honesty first
Real, verified data wherever possible — and honest about what isn't yet verified.
Free for families
Core tools remain free, always. We sustain ourselves through school partnerships, not by charging families.
Genuine inclusion
SEND Compass exists because every family deserves this bridge — not as an afterthought.
Global, from a local start
Built UAE-first with real depth, structured from day one to expand honestly, worldwide.