A+ for International School Education

● THE STRAITS TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17 2011 PAGE C8 ● THE STRAITS TIMES SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17 2011 PAGE C9worldL special report worldL special report

for internationalschool education

BY HO AI LI

CHINA CORRESPONDENT

BEIJING: Harrow. Dulwich. Wellington.These brand-name British public schoolshave all set up shop in China, with one ofthem venturing beyond the big cities ofBeijing and Shanghai.

The 152-year-old Wellington Collegejust opened a branch in the northern portcity of Tianjin this August, one of a grow-ing number of international schools bull-ish about growth prospects in China’s rap-idly developing second-tier cities.

Wellington College Tianjin now hasmore than 200 students from about 20 na-tionalities, including several Singapore-ans, said headmaster David Cook. It isplanning to attract even more students byoffering boarding facilities.

“It is the city of growth and imagina-tion, and a more promising city for agreat school than Beijing or Shanghai,”Mr Cook said on what drew Wellingtonto Tianjin. In the first half of this year,the city’s economy, driven by a strongmanufacturing sector, grew faster thanthat of any other city in China.

Meanwhile, other second-tier cities

such as Suzhou, Wuxi and Dalian are alsopulling in operators like Singapore’s Eton-House and Gems Education, a Dubai-based group.

EtonHouse plans to open a school inanother port city, Dalian, in 2013, to addto existing multi-level schools in Suzhouand Wuxi, both in coastal Jiangsu prov-ince. Gems Education, which runs morethan 60 international schools in placessuch as India and the Middle East, willopen its first school in China next year, al-so in Tianjin.

Although foreign schools are sproutingin second-tier cities, the key driver is notso much an existing huge demand as theanticipation of it in the coming years, asthese cities grow and the workforce be-comes even more cosmopolitan.

At the moment, there is generally nolack of vacancies in international schoolsin Chinese mainland cities, unlike thecase in Hong Kong or Singapore.

One reason is that China does not havea huge number of foreigners: Only590,000 of its 1.3 billion population areforeigners, according to last year’s cen-sus. In contrast, foreigners make up 27per cent – 1.39 million – of Singapore’spopulation of 5.18 million.

Beijing has 107,000 foreigners, a mere0.005 per cent of its population, whileShanghai has 208,000, or 0.01 per centof its population.

The two top Chinese cities, however,have about 40 schools catering to at least40,000 foreign students from primary topre-university levels.

“The first-tier cities are already wellserved,” said Mrs Ng Gim Choo, Eton-House’s group managing director. It isnow very difficult to find good premisesin these cities, she added.

However, local governments of sec-ond-tier cities such as Dalian are very wel-coming, said Mrs Ng, seeing the presenceof international schools like EtonHouseas a plus point in their efforts to attractforeign companies.

Mr Antonio Teijeiro, 42, a Tianjin-based hotel executive with two youngchildren, agrees. “It is good thing forsmaller cities like Tianjin to have more in-ternational schools. If there are no suchschools, foreigners will not come.”

There is also growing demand fromChinese parents who have moved back toChina and want to put their foreign-bornchildren into these cosmopolitan schools.

Ms Charlotte Qu is one of them. The

43-year-old housewife returned from theUnited States in 2006 after studying andworking there. She enrolled her15-year-old son in a local school thinkingit would help him improve his Chineseand maths.

But the culture shock he experiencedprompted her to put him in an interna-tional school in Beijing instead.

A place in an international school doesnot come cheap though, with annual feesranging from 150,000 yuan (S$30,800) to204,000 yuan, and established ones likethe Western Academy of Beijing (WAB)charging more.

Teachers are generally recruited fromAustralia, Canada or Britain, where Eng-lish is a native language.

Unsurprisingly, demand for places ex-ceeds supply at the better-known, estab-lished schools like WAB or the Interna-tional School of Beijing, which are al-ready among the biggest in the capitalwith nearly 2,000 students each.

As Mr Jack Hsu, the Beijing-basedchief executive officer of the Ivy Group,which runs premium kindergartens, putit: “There’s no lack of educational re-sources in China but a lack of good-quali-ty ones.”

BY JOANNE LEE-YOUNG

FOR THE STRAITS TIMES

HONG KONG: In Hong Kong, you can fa-mously trade just about anything.

But one of the hottest, most secretivemarkets has got to be in the wheeling anddealing of school debentures.

Prices of these financial instruments,which promise to fast-track a child for en-try into Hong Kong’s most sought-afterinternational schools, have soared in re-cent years to as high as HK$10 million(S$1.68 million), as demand for schoolspots outstrips supply.

Part of the frenzied demand is from ex-patriate families arriving in Hong Kong totap booming work opportunities in Chi-na. But much of it comes from local fami-lies in Hong Kong, who want to give theirchildren a more global education.

“It is not a kind of rational invest-ment,” said Ms Athena Wong, director ofEverfine Membership Services, a deben-ture broker. “It is all about getting theirkids into school.”

Schools issue these debentures to par-ents as a sort of fee for priority treat-ment, refundable after a child leaves theschool. Except in this case, the unusedreservation can be resold to other parentsat an even higher price.

They are seen as “two kinds of ROI (re-turn on investment)”, said Mr DonaldHolder, a vice-principal at Hong Kong’sIndependent Schools Foundation (ISF)Academy.

At the ISF Academy, the debenturesnow go for just under HK$5 million, up al-most 50 per cent from last year. Lastyear, British International School Kellettpriced some debentures at HK$10 mil-lion. The prestigious Chinese Internation-al School even halted all re-selling of de-bentures – without further explanation –after prices spiralled up to HK$5 million,from HK$600,000 in 2003.

That is all on top of school fees, which

run up to between HK$66,500 andHK$195,500 a year, according to theHong Kong Education Bureau.

The prices reflect the scarcity of spotsin international schools. Kellett principalAnn McDonald recently told BloombergTelevision that she had a waiting list of1,000 children.

There are 48 international schools of-fering 36,000 places in Hong Kong,which has a population of seven million.

The Special Administrative Regionsaid it plans to add some 5,000 interna-tional school places, as recruitment com-panies report that some executives aremoving to Shanghai and Singapore be-cause of the shortage.

Debentures are not compulsory: Chil-dren can, and do, get into schools with-out them. But with the number of placesthis tight, some families feel they needone in their arsenal, along with other pluspoints, such as the right passport or a sib-ling already attending the school.

The practice, which appears unique toHong Kong, goes back more than 30years, to when international schools werefirst established in this former British col-ony. In many cases, schools, like countryclubs, received land from the governmentand raised funds for construction by ask-ing parents and companies to chip in.Hence, the debenture was born.

Back then, the prices were more mod-est, say, HK$20,000 a child, said Ms JudyCarline, a Hong Kong-based relocationconsultant whose own children went tothe French International School in themid-1980s.

Now, with much greater demand, themarket has become more complicated,gossip-filled and opaque, said Ms RuthBenny, who launched the websitewww.topschools.hk to help parents applyfor independent schools in Hong Kong.

“Every school is different,” she added.Most do not say how many students

are accepted via debentures or how muchmoney they raise. Some debentures guar-

antee admission, and a few schools offercreme de la creme ones that cost more,but will pretty much let an applicant passthrough every door, and even sweep in asibling.

Other debentures only help tofast-track an application.

None of this appears to deter deter-mined parents.

While local Hong Kong schools boasthigh academic standards, some parentsfeel they are too focused on rote learning,and there is “too much pressure, with pri-mary kids staying up until midnight to dohomework, and parents forming studygroups to keep up”, said Ms Jo-AnnSeow, deputy principal of the ISF Acade-my.

Debenture holders are reluctant to dis-cuss their investment because it is social-ly awkward. “You can jump ahead ofsomeone who has been on a waiting list

for three years,” explained Ms Carline,the relocation consultant.

As one ISF Academy parent whobought a debenture put it: “It is exorbi-tant. And they don’t want people to thinktheir kids got into the school only be-cause their parents bought them a spot.”

Meanwhile, schools say they rely on de-benture funds to build facilities in priceyHong Kong.

“It is a local Hong Kong phenome-non,” said Dr Mark Hensman, chief oper-ating officer for Harrow InternationalManagement Services, which will openits HK$1 billion campus in Hong Kongnext year. Neither Harrow’s Beijing norBangkok branch issues debentures.

Already, corporate debentures –which employers include as part of a hir-ing package – for Harrow’s Hong Kongschool that go for HK$3 million are soldout. So are its individual debentures,which go for HK$600,000.

BY ZUBAIDAH NAZEER

INDONESIA CORRESPONDENT

JAKARTA: Demand for Singapore-styleschools based in Indonesia has grown butis not expected to dent the number of Indo-nesians heading to Singapore for their edu-cation, said school operators here.

There are about 10 privately runschools that use Singapore textbooks andcurricula in Jakarta. Several more are to befound in cities in outer provinces such asSurabaya in East Java and Medan in NorthSumatra.

These schools cater to a wide age range,from four-year-old preschoolers to18-year-old junior college students.

What makes them popular, say theirprincipals, is the Singapore brand nameand the perception that any Singapore out-fit is run well.

Mr Ng Eng Chin, principal of Anglo-Chinese School (International) Jakarta,said he has seen the number of students inhis school more than double to 620 overthe past three years.

His school was set up in 2006 by theboard of governors of ACS in Singaporeand an Indonesian businessman.

Mr Ng, a former principal of ACS (Bark-er Road) who has been the Jakarta school’sprincipal for nearly four years, said: “Peo-ple hear about Singapore’s education sys-tem and they think it is efficient, that thesystem works as it produces skilled work-ers. That is the strength of a Singapore in-ternational school.”

His school is popular with middle-classIndonesians – their children make up nineout of 10 students, with the remainder be-ing Singaporeans, Americans, Britons andother Europeans.

Meanwhile, the Singapore InternationalSchool, which first broke ground in Jakar-ta in 1996, has set up seven other schools

in cities such as Bandung, Medan and Se-marang. A spokesman said it is seeingstrong demand, with full enrolment in twoschools, while the rest are 80 per cent to90 per cent filled.

Another school, the Jakarta NanyangSchool (JNY), is opening next July, offer-ing classes from kindergarten to Second-ary 1, with plans to offer classes eventuallyright up to junior college. It has seenstrong demand for its Secondary 1 and Pri-mary 1 classes.

An oft-mentioned reason by parents forthe attractiveness of Singapore-styleschools is their medium of instruction:English. Mandarin and other languages arealso on offer, options that are unavailablein most Indonesian government schools,where subjects are taught mainly in Baha-sa Indonesia.

Ms Yulia Salim, 37, said: “I sent my sonto the Singapore school here so that wecan still be with him, but yet he can have abetter quality education and learn Englishand have friends from other backgroundstoo.”

Indonesian parents who approach JNYappear to hold similar views. JNY’s princi-pal, Dr Liu Shiueh Ling, says their concernis to provide their children with the neces-sary linguistic and other skills that will en-able them to carve out a career easily athome or abroad.

Cost considerations are another drawfor Indonesian parents who enrol their chil-dren in these Singapore-style internation-al schools.

The annual cost of schooling children inan international school here can rangefrom $7,000 at kindergarten level to over$15,000 from upper secondary onwards. Itmakes a dent in the pocketbook, but is stillcheaper than sending the child to study inSingapore.

Singapore-based international schoolscharge fees of $8,000 to $19,000, not in-

cluding more than $10,000 in boardingcharges annually.

Though these international schools useSingapore textbooks, educators in theschools say the curricula differ from theones in Singapore.

Dr Liu said they need to reflect ele-ments of Indonesian culture, such as game-lan music and wayang kulit plays.

“Subjects like history and geography al-so have to deviate from Singapore text-books to take in more of the Indonesian ex-amples and a global perspective, less ofSingapore,” she said.

Despite the strong demand, the princi-pals do not think their schools will damp-en the market for Indonesians heading toSingapore.

Dr Liu said: “The market for educationis big enough for everyone, and the onesgoing to Singapore may want a differentexperience from those who come here.”

In fact, parents planning to use theSingapore-style schools in Indonesia as aplatform for their children to enter schoolsin Singapore are advised to send their chil-dren there at the earliest possible age.That way, they can adapt more easily tothe more demanding system in Singapore.

According to estimates from student as-sociations and local reports, there areabout 10,000 Indonesians studying in Sin-gapore, from primary school level right upto university.

Ms Agnes Gunawan, a 38-year-oldhousewife, has two children – aged fiveand seven – in Singapore schools. For her,the plus points include access to betterhealth care and cleaner air.

She also hopes her children will thrivein the more diverse community that Singa-pore offers and become more self-reliant,commuting to school on their own, for in-stance, instead of being chauffeuredaround.

Ms Teyti Wiryono, 42, is another Indo-

nesian mum with children studying in Sin-gapore. They started at Primary 1, andare now aged 10 and 12. She lives in Jakar-ta and considers the separation and fre-quent shuttle visits she has to make asmall price to pay.

“I wanted them to learn English andMandarin well, and I believe it is still bet-ter to do this in Singapore,” she said.“The education system is more rigorous,and they will be able to compete any-where else in the world after that.”

zubaidah@sph.com.sg

What price a goodeducation? For manyexpatriate parents inHong Kong, millionsof dollars just to geta place. We look atwhat drives thegrowing market forinternational schoolsin parts of Asia.

Singapore’s EtonHouse runs schools in Chinesecities like Chengdu. It plans to open one inDalian in 2013, to add to existing multi-levelschools in Suzhou and Wuxi. PHOTO: ETONHOUSE

At the ISF Academy in Hong Kong (above), debentures currently go for just under HK$5 million,up almost 50 per cent from last year. The practice of debentures appears unique to Hong Kong,and goes back more than 30 years, to when it was a British colony. ST PHOTO: JOANNE LEE-YOUNG

INDONESIA: Singapore brand andlessons in English are big draw

The number of students at Anglo-ChineseSchool (International) Jakarta has morethan doubled to 620 over the past threeyears, says its school principal. It was setup in 2006. PHOTO: ACS (JAKARTA)

CHINA: Foreign schools venturing into smaller cities

HONG KONG: Payingtop dollar forfast-track entry