32 | INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL S | INTERNATIONAL
International schools have changed beyond recognition over the last 25 years. Anne Keeling examines the prevailing trends in this ever-expanding market
ALL AROUND THE WORLD T
he global international schools market continues to atract the UK’s well-established independent schools where reputation and brand image
offer significant potential for international growth. Schools like Dulwich College, Harrow, Marlborough
College and Shrewsbury can now be found in such countries as Malaysia, UAE and China, responding to an increasing demand for high quality, English- speaking education from both expatriate and local families. These schools are part of a highly influential international schools market which is currently meeting the learning needs of over 3.5million students using English as the language for learning.
The changing face of the international schools market Market intelligence and data on the world’s international schools is collected and evaluated by The International School Consultancy Group (ISC), a UK-based organisation which has been researching the sector for over 25 years. During that time, the international schools market has changed dramatically, increasing in size from under 1,000 schools to 7,030 schools today. The first international schools were mostly
priorities. This is based upon the wide acceptance that a student who atends an international school, with its English-speaking education and typically high standards of teaching and learning, has access to a much wider choice of higher education. The result is that today, local children fill
80 percent of international school places. This figure varies from country to country according to government quotas for atendance and an increasing number of governments are reducing these quotas or releasing restrictions altogether. However, there are still some countries, such as Singapore, where strict restrictions for local children apply. In these locations, international schools are populated on the whole by expatriate children. It is the expanding middle class that is helping
to generate an incredibly healthy market, one that ISC predicts will reach 11,500 international schools, teaching 6.4million students by 2024. It is for this reason that so many UK independent schools are developing their brands internationally.
The expansion of UK independent school brands A number of UK independent schools such as Dulwich College, Harrow, Shrewsbury and Brighton College
“THE EXPANSION OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS COMES WITH A NEED FOR QUALITY STAFFING, PREMIUM LEARNING- FOCUSED PROVISION, AND THE VERY HIGHEST PERFORMANCE AND ACCREDITATION STANDARDS”
located in remote areas that could not otherwise provide an education for the children of expatriates working in such industries as oil and gas. Those early international schools delivered a national curriculum (usually British or American), were invariably small and limited in resources, and most were not-for-profit. Those schools bear virtually no resemblance to the international schools of today. The demographic breakdown, learning approach and business model have all changed and it is no longer a small market catering for a niche group. The international schools market is now big business, teaching 3,557,000 expatriate and local children, employing over 331,000 full-time staff, and last year generating £20.7billion in annual fee income alone.
Driving growth In many countries, today’s international school enrolment is very much driven by the richest 5 percent of non-English-speaking parents. The reason for this is that as incomes rise, so an international school education becomes a possibility for more local families, many of whom place it high on their list of
have been well-established internationally for several years. These schools are predominantly in South East Asia and the Middle East and typically came about via licensing arrangements with local operators. A significant number of other independent schools such as Repton, Wellington College and Oundle have started developing similar operations in more recent years. A smaller number, including Marlborough College, have established directly managed schools.
ABOVE: Harrow International School Hong Kong
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