Western schools gain a foothold in China

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Western schools gain a foothold in China
Mon, 12-29-2003 - 8:29pm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/154311_pac29.html

Pacific Currents: Western schools gain a foothold in China

Monday, December 29, 2003


By KATHLEEN MCLAUGHLIN
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE


SHANGHAI, China -- Just a few years ago, the thought of Chinese and foreign students studying together in a Western-run school inside China with the blessing of the Communist Party was a far-fetched -- and illegal -- notion.


The Communists banned foreign missionary schools after taking power in 1949 and have barred Chinese students from studying with Westerners ever since.


But foreign-run schools for Chinese students are once again a reality in this vast port city of more than 20 million inhabitants.


In September, the government permitted U.S. educators and a prestigious British preparatory school -- London's Dulwich College -- to operate a school for kindergarten and high school students. It is the nation's first Western-run school to admit Chinese students. A ban on foreign-run elementary and middle schools remains in force.


"We are the beginning of competitive private education in China," said Fritz Libby, whose Global Education Information Consulting Co. helped negotiate and finance the school, known as Shanghai Dulwich International School.


China has 230 million students enrolled in kindergarten through ninth grade, the ministry of education says. But state-run high schools have room for just one-tenth of middle school graduates, prompting about 50,000 high school students to apply to study abroad this year.


Observers say the government has had to revise its position on Western schools because it cannot keep up with the rising demand for quality education. Although education is compulsory in China through the ninth grade, students beyond that level have few choices.


To enter a first-rate university, a student must come from a top high school. Students also face a long road of compulsory exams that determine their high school, university and, eventually, their careers. Top universities accept only about 4 percent of graduating high school students, and fewer than half pass college entrance exams.


Although Chinese and foreign students at Shanghai Dulwich initially will be taught separately and in their native languages, the project has attracted $12 million from investors who believe the separation will end soon.


The kindergarten program has 60 foreign and 30 Chinese students, who spend an hour together daily in group activities like sports. The high school is expected to open next fall.


Global Information and Chengwei Ventures -- a San Francisco-based group that is one of the first independent venture capitalist funds to operate in China -- negotiated the terms with Dulwich, considered one of the top independent schools in Britain. They are planning to finance other Western-run schools in Suzhou, Beijing and Shenzhen.


"Private education, health care and personal finance are the areas of investment as China moves from a socialist to a market economy," said Eric Li, a Shanghai native who founded Chengwei Ventures. He has an MBA from Stanford.


Chinese companies have been setting up private schools at a rapid pace. The country now has 60,000, the ministry of education says. Libby says the proliferation of private schools and the Shanghai project were approved partly to keep students who want a Western education in China.


Shanghai Dulwich's headmaster is Colin Niven, who taught French and German to Prime Minister Tony Blair at Fettes College in Scotland. Having such connections has helped Shanghai Dulwich accelerate its high school opening. Niven said organizers are motivated by desire to help Chinese youths.


Tuition for the high school will be expensive. Foreign students will pay about $18,000 a year and Chinese students $5,000 a year -- a hefty sum for a nation where per capita annual income is $1,200, but affordable for middle-class workers who have followed China's one-child policy.


Organizers are being careful to design a curriculum that will not offend, and Chinese authorities are reviewing all proposed textbooks and lesson plans.


Religious studies required in Britain have been molded into a course about world cultures and will avoid mention of Falun Gong, a sect that the Communist Party has banned as an "evil cult." History classes will avoid mentioning Taiwan as a separate country.





Pacific Currents is a weekly look at issues and personalities around the Pacific Rim.


© 1998-2003 Seattle Post-Intelligencer