Summary

In a recent announcement, China's Ministry of Education has said that it will accelerate the process of building Chinese international schools abroad through a number of ways, including founding these schools through Confucius Institutes and encouraging domestic schools to open branches overseas. The Ministry is exploring a variety of ways to support these schools including direct financial support, training and educational materials.

The announcement also said that these schools could offer a hybrid curriculum, with the Chinese curriculum for Chinese, Maths, politics and culture offered alongside IB, AP or A-level courses.

Analysis by Kevin Prest, Senior Analyst, British Council International Education Services

Based on the Ministry's statements, support for international schools overseas appears to be mainly based on supporting the children of the increasing number of employees sent abroad by domestic companies or the Chinese government. They are unlikely to directly compete with UK international schools in the short term, as many of these parents currently leave their children in China while working abroad.

However, this also mirrors the country's goal to expand the influence of its education system abroad and to attract more overseas students to study at universities in China. Chinese institutions are already offering education abroad at the higher education level through branch campuses such as Xiamen University's Malaysia campus. In addition to the children of Chinese citizens living abroad, the Ministry of Education's announcement also mentioned overseas citizens of Chinese descent as a potential market for these overseas Chinese schools.

Source

China Daily - More Chinese schools to be built overseas: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201912/25/WS5e029ce8a310cf3e3558064e.html