Summary

Chinese analysis firm TopSchool has recently released a report analysing the country's international school market. According to the report, China currently has 1,028 schools offering some form of overseas curriculum at the primary, lower secondary or upper secondary level. The report also finds that almost all newly-opened international schools in 2018 were domestic private institutions. This is a significant contrast to the current situation, as a large proportion of international programmes are currently located in "international classes" within public high schools, or at foreign-funded institutions that recruit overseas citizens.

The report shows that 62 new international schools were opened in 2018 while 21 existing schools were closed, representing a net growth of 4.2 per cent. Of these newly opened schools, 55 were domestically-owned private schools. A further three were classed as "other" - a category which includes international schools established by universities, which from a legal point of view also operate as private schools. These two categories add up to 94 per cent of all newly opened international schools in 2018.

This is much higher than these schools' current composition of China's international school market. According to a report from the same company last year, these two categories made up only slightly more than half of existing international schools - 45 per cent for private plus a further 6 per cent for "others".

In addition, China's largest cities continue to lose ground in terms of their share of international schools. Beijing and Shanghai represented 20 per cent of all active international schools last year but only five new schools in 2018 or 8 per cent of the total.

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

International schools continue to gain in popularity in China, as the country becomes wealthier and parents become more aware of the advantages of international education. These schools are particularly popular at the upper secondary level, as China allows schools at this level to offer a fully international programme (in contrast to compulsory education where all Chinese citizens must follow the local curriculum), and they are seen as an increasingly attractive alternative to the high-pressure gaokao examination.

The shift towards privately-owned Chinese international schools is a direct result of policies that discourage public high schools from operating so-called international classes, which charge high fees but are seen as taking resources away from public education. These classes still make up a significant proportion of all international schools in China but their share of the market is likely to decline substantially over the next few years. At the same time the growth in students interested in an international education comes almost entirely from local Chinese citizens, in comparison to a decade or two ago when foreign citizens made up a much larger share of international school enrolment.

Essentially all graduates from international schools at the upper secondary level will go on to study overseas, as students who have not taken the gaokao cannot enter Chinese universities. This makes them attractive prospects for UK universities looking to recruit Chinese undergraduates.

Sources

TopSchools publishes "2018 China International Schools Map"; 1028 international schools nationwide (in Chinese) - http://www.sohu.com/a/271142788_691021