Top British schools continue to target expats abroad

21st September 2009 | Expat community | 0 comments

This week the famous English public school, Harrow, announced that they would be establishing a new school in Hong Kong. The school, which is set to open in the year 2012, will be Hong Kong’s first international boarding school and will have a capacity for 1200 students that consist of both male and female pupils. Full boarding will be available to students in the senior section. The school will be built on a Greenfield site in Hong Kong’s New Territories, near to the Chinese border. Michael Suen, from Hong Kong’s education bureau, issued a statement saying, “I believe it has been a step forward for Hong Kong to develop a vibrant international school community attracting students from different parts of the increasingly connected world”.

Harrow’s new school will be just one of a growing number of English schools that are appearing throughout the world. Harrow themselves, currently have an international family of schools that include institutions in Bangkok and Beijing, and now other public schools appear to be jumping on the bandwagon. In Qatar, the latest Sherbourne School launched in Doha on September the 9th this year with classes officially due to commence on September 27th. It is estimated that up to 80% of the people currently living in Qatar are expatriates and it is hoped that the new school will attract the interest of those parents who usually send their children overseas to attend boarding schools.

In recent years a number of high profile English educational institutions have appeared in China too. Hoping to attract expatriate workers the Chinese government recognized the need to establish a competent educational system that could appeal to the requirements of these expats. In doing so they permitted the likes of the Dulwich College to begin to move into the Chinese education space. Dulwich College now has establishments in Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou.

It is clear, from the actions of these popular UK Independent Schools that the trend for the provision of a true British curriculum overseas is on the up and a growing number of reputable schools are pursing opportunities abroad.

International English Independent Schools:

Brighton College (Brighton). Schools planned for Abu Dhabi in 2011 and is currently working on further plans to open schools in China, Oman, Jordan, Egypt and India.

Dulwich College (London). Branches in Shanghai, Beijing and Suzhou.

Harrow School (Middlesex). Branches in Bangkok, Beijing and are currently planning a school in Hong Kong.

Haileybury School (Hertfordshire) Kazakhstan Branch.

Repton School (Derbyshire), has a branch in Dubai.

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