The Dream Factory of China

Shenzhen encouraged more international schools to be built in the city during a promotional conference about the construction of international schools Thursday morning at the Civic Center.

Government officials announced that five to six international schools will be constructed in Shenzhen for the children of expatriates in the city, adding to the seven existing international schools.

“Our goal is to turn Shenzhen into a modern, internationalized and innovative city and we believe to incorporate more international schools into the city will help us get closer to that goal,” said Fan Kun, vice head of the Shenzhen Municipal Education Bureau.

At present, there are more than 6,300 expatriate students and children studying in Shenzhen’s schools, and nearly 17,500 students and children from Hong Kong and Macao studying in Shenzhen’s kindergartens, primary and secondary schools.

Apart from calling for more international elementary schools and high schools, Shenzhen expects more jointly constructed higher education institutions to settle in the city, said Huang Guoqiang, deputy secretary general of the Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government.

Huang emphasized the importance of introducing more collaborative universities to Shenzhen, especially in eastern areas where the Longgang International University Town is based.

The vice head of the Longgang District Government, Yang Li, promoted the district during the conference Thursday. She outlined three ways how the district is trying to bring more international schools into the area, including turning factories into international schools and leasing land to international education groups.

The strategy was echoed by Ikeda Yoshihisa, principal of The Japanese School of Shenzhen, who thinks the biggest challenge faced by the school is insufficient land.

“Our school has 270 Japanese students in total,” said Yoshihisa. “The space is enough at the moment, but we might consider expanding the campus or moving to Longgang District if we get more Japanese students in the future.”

The Japanese School of Shenzhen is the city’s only international school for Japanese students that follows Japanese curriculum.

Construction of the first international school in Qianhai Free Trade Zone will start next year and about five international schools that provide education to both Hong Kong and international students will be founded by 2020, according to a Special Planning of Innovative Development of Qianhai Educational Facilities 2015-2030.

Vocational training centers owned by Hong Kong companies are allowed to be set up. The international schools will offer around 5,000 places to students and provide courses such as AP, GCSE/GCSF, A-Level, HKDSE and IB. Qianhai will also build about five kindergartens.

Training service providers from Hong Kong and Macao can set up non-diploma vocational training schools in Guangdong’s three pilot free trade zones: Qianhai, Nansha and Hengqin. The providers will receive financial support and preferential policies enjoyed by other privately owned vocational schools in Guangdong.

Over 100,000 Hong Kong residents are expected to seek jobs or do businesses in Qianhai and the numbers of international workers will be multiplied.