Most of the schools in the area have Gujarati as the medium of instruction, and there are a number of English medium schools as well. St. Xaviers and Lourdes Convent are the two Catholic schools in Surat and are often viewed as elite schools though Sir J.J. English School which was once amongst the best has now degraded due to its poor management.

Other private schools like the S.V. Rao New Model School continue to have success and often are recognized by the state and local governments. Regardless of medium of instruction, most schools are part of the Gujarat State Education Board. The Seventh Day Adventist School in Athwa Lines is part of the national ICSE board and Delhi Public school, Surat is affiliated to CBSE. There is a school in Surat called Lancers Army School. It is a good school to make children physically and mentally strong. It is affiliated to GBSE and CBSE.

Surat has a large concentration of colleges under the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University in the Athwa Lines area on the banks of the Tapti River. It has a medical college and three engineering colleges, including the prestigious Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat (SVNIT formerly svrcet or svr, among the 17 NIT’s of India), some private colleges like Sarvajanik College of Engineering and Technology (SCET), and the C K Pithawala College of Engineering and Technology (CKPCET). SCET is one of the few institutions in the country to offer engineering degrees in Surat’s main industry, Textiles. The ‘Sir K.P.College of commerce’ and MTB Arts and PT Science colleges are among the oldest in the state of Gujarat with PT Science being the only English Science college in the city. V.T. Choksi Sarvajanik College of Education is another well known educational institution. And Surat has one of Private Medical College SMIMER – Surat Municipal Institute of Medical Education & Research.