money machines 英國學校在中國

英國學校在中國
作者：英國《金融時報》大衛一些中國家長非常希望自己的孩子能夠接受英式教育，這給英國企業和慈善機構創造了巨大的潛在機遇。當被問及這種現象的原因，英國教育專家都使用了兩個相同的關鍵字：“說教”(didactic)和“質疑”(questioning)。由 於知識在全球經濟中佔據越來越重要的關鍵地位，受過良好教育的中國人擔心，比起更為鼓勵質疑精神的英國學習方式，說教式的中國教育方法可能有所不及。
即使在全世界範圍內，進入英國學校就讀的壁壘都很高，某種情況下，在中國甚至更高。

英國兩所最著名的傳統私立學校哈羅公學(Harrow School)和達利奇學院(Dulwich College)，都已在中國開辦了分校。過去10年，私立學校已率先利用中國實踐了開辦海外分校的新理念，這些學校創造的收入，可以為母校提供助學金來 源，或者用於降低英國學生的學費。

此外，私立學校團體英國女子日間公學聯合組織(Girls'Day School Trust)宣佈了一項計畫，將在靠近上海的地方開辦一所男女同校的六年制學院。

使用英式課程的國際學校——與傳統的英國私立學校不同——也在擴張。總部位於馬德里的King's Group於4年前開辦了北京英國學校(British School of Beijing)，同時，它還在西班牙和英國經營國際學校。King's Group教授國際中學教育普通證書(IGCSE)的課程，這是逐漸被越來越多英國私立學校採用的英國中學教育普通證書(GCSE)的國際版本。該校校長 詹姆士•巴滕(James Batten)表示，北京“至少有10所”學校在教授英式課程。

英國大學在中國授予學位的可能性也逐漸增大。代表英國各大學校長的英國大學聯合會(Universities UK)估計，約有1.1萬名中國學生在中國國內學習，以爭取獲得英國高等教育證書。該市場之所以吸引人，一定程度上是因為比起英國本國來，中國的監管程度 相對寬鬆，與在英國母校念書的英國及其他歐盟(EU)學生相比，這些大學可以對在中國國內攻讀英國大學學位的學生收取更高的學費。

當然，這些大學也可以向許多到英國學習的(非歐盟)學生收取相對較高的費用。但對於寧願在國內學習以減少生活成本，並且可以離家更近的中國學生來說，這是另一個市場。

英國大學在中國提供學位最為普遍的方式，就是通過無校園(campus-free)模式。許多機構都熱衷於採用這一方式，史塔福郡大學 (Staffordshire University)就是其中一個，該學校正通過合作關係在中國、印度、巴基斯坦、斯里蘭卡、阿曼以及歐洲提供學位。該校國際辦公室主任彼得•雷諾茲 (Peter Reynolds)表示：“建立海外聲譽有助於我們招生工作的進行。”

英國精英大學聯合體羅素大學集團(Russell Group universities)的成員之一諾丁漢大學(University of Nottingham)已冒了相對最大的風險，通過開辦海外分校吸引海外學生：一所在馬來西亞，一所在中國——2004年建於與上海毗鄰的寧波。

諾丁漢大學商學院主管國際化的副校長克裏斯汀·恩紐(Christine Ennew)教授表示，財政收入並不是主要動機。他只是希望這些海外分校能創造“足夠的盈餘”，以支持繼續擴張。她說：“我們希望看到，兩所分校在未來3至5年都能顯著成長。”

中國和馬來西亞分校不是造錢的機器，這兩所學校對“我們在全球的聲譽做出了相當大的貢獻。我們在《泰晤士報高等教育增刊》(Times Higher Education)上的排名上升了許多。”《泰晤士報高等教育增刊》是主要基於學術領域意見的一套全球大學排名。

但哈羅公學和達利奇學院卻直言不諱地鼓吹建立海外分校的經濟利益。哈羅公學在北京和曼谷分別有一所分校。達利奇學院的三所分校都在中國——北京、上海和蘇州。兩所學校的校長均表示，他們將會利用分校賺來的錢來提供英國國內的助學金。

以達利奇學院為例，這是使其母校實現“零需求”(needs blind)計畫戰略的一部分，在這種理想狀態下，倫敦母校可以僅僅因為學生的學術能力，接受任何一個想要的學生，而不必考慮這些學生的父母是否支付得起學費。

不過，他們對海外業務的利潤守口如瓶。這兩所學校使用的模式是，本土合作夥伴向英國學校交納一定費用，獲得學校名稱和專業知識，而英國學校要訂約保證提供與母校類似的質量，這是英國私立學校海外擴張的標準模式。哈羅校長巴納比•勒諾(Barnaby Lenon)表示，兩所學校的年利潤加起來“毫無疑問是6位數”。

不過，儘管有財政收入方面的誘惑，有些私立學校校長還是對向中國及其它國家進行海外擴張的好處表示懷疑。一位校長指出，舉例來說，假定一所大規模寄 宿學校的標準費用為每年2.5萬英鎊，那麼如果一所學校每年能從一間分校掙得25萬英鎊，總共也只能給英國母校增加10個學生名額。這位校長表示，如果一 所學校只是出於成本動機設立分校，那海外擴張就沒有意義，因為它將在旨在吸引10個額外學生進入英國母校就讀的相關市場活動上，花費少得多的時間和資金。

英國學校設立的監督制衡機制相當嚴苛。這反映了大多數英國學校在進行海外擴張時所面臨的兩難困境：它們希望為母校賺錢，但前提是不能損害自己的品牌。

這個精心設計的體系包括，至少一位管理者的任命權、母校職員至少一年一次的視察，以及日常進度報告。每一所中國分校校長的任命，達利奇及其國際合作夥伴都需要達成共識。勒諾表示，倫敦哈羅公學親自為北京分校任命校長。

但在向中國擴張上，英國教育組織同樣也面臨阻礙。北京英國學校的巴滕表示，選擇招收在華外國學生，並用外國教學大綱對他們進行教育的學校，不能同時 招收中國公民。由於被迫在兩個市場間做出選擇，多數外國學校都選擇了外國學生，但英國女子日間公學聯合組織卻逆勢而行，主要招收中國學生，並使用中國的課 程大綱。

巴滕承認，由於這種劃分，“我們要想填補市場變得更加困難”，但他表示，他們的學校可以並已經招了許多擁有中國及另一個國家國籍的雙國籍學生。不 過，他補充道：“從其他方面來看，這可能更好，因為如果學校80%學生的母語都是中文，那麼英語水平就不會太高。”這會減弱課堂活力，不利於那些講母語並 學習英語課程提綱的學生。

許多學校也表示，沒有當地合作夥伴，很難進入中國，而擁有合作夥伴則可能會削弱它們的影響力。

其他作為英國學校擴張目的地的國家，大部分也是這種情況，比如泰國和海灣國家。但這些國家中的大多數都沒有像中國一樣，對本國和外國學生進行嚴格區 分。這可能解釋了，為何許多傳統的英國私立學校正在計畫把首所分校設在其他國家。例如，奧多(Oundle)將在明年聯合創辦一所迪拜分校。

但有些英國私立中學仍在關注著中國，許多大學也是如此。其中包括貝德福德(Bedfordshire)，目前，該校正在考慮開辦一所中國分校。

譯者/董琴

New school ties

By David Turner 2008-11-11

Chinese parents have a thirst for British education for their children that creates huge potential opportunities for British companies and charities.

Asked why this is, British education experts all use the same two key words: educated Chinese people worry the “didactic” style of Chinese teaching is less suited than the more “questioning” style of British learning to the increasingly knowledge-based global economy.

But the barriers to entry – which are high throughout the world for British schools and universities – are in some cases even higher in China.

Harrow School and Dulwich College, two of Britain's most famous traditional private schools, have already set up branches in China. In the past 10 years, private schools have used China to pioneer the new concept of overseas daughter campuses that make money for the parent school to spend on bursaries or lowering fees for pupils in Britain.

Moreover, the Girls' Day School Trust, a group of independent schools, has announced plans for a co-ed sixth-form college near Shanghai.

International schools with British curricula – a different market from traditional British private schools – are also expanding. The Madrid-based King's Group, which also runs international schools in Spain and England, set up the British School of Beijing four years ago. It teaches the IGCSE – an international version of Britain's GCSE exams that is taught increasingly by private schools in England. James Batten, headmaster, says there are “10 at least” schools in Beijing that teach a British syllabus.

UK universities are also increasingly likely to offer degrees in China. Universities UK, which represents university vice-chancellors, estimates that about 11,000 Chinese students study in their own country for British higher education awards. The market is attractive partly because the fees are less heavily regulated than back home – allowing universities to charge more per student than they can for English and other European Union students coming to the home university in England.

The same universities can charge many students relatively high fees for studying in the UK. But there is a different market for Chinese students who would rather cut living costs and stay close to family by studying at home.

The most common way in which British universities offer degrees in China is through the campus-free model. Staffordshire University is one of many institutions that have enthusiastically embraced this, offering degrees through partnerships in China, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Oman and Europe. Peter Reynolds, director of the international office, says: “Building a reputation overseas helps with our recruitment.”

The University of Nottingham, one of Britain's elite group of Russell Group universities, has taken the biggest risk of all to entice foreign students by opening its own campuses abroad: one in Malaysia and one in China, at Ningbo near Shanghai in 2004 (see below).

Prof Christine Ennew, pro-vice chancellor for internationalisation at Nottingham University Business School, plays down the financial motive. Prof Ennew wants the foreign campuses simply to generate ”sufficient surpluses” to support their future expansion. “We would like to see both grow significantly over the next three to five years,” she says.

Instead of being a money machine, the campuses in China and Malaysia “are contributing quite significantly to our reputation globally. We've moved quite a bit up the Times Higher Education league table” – a worldwide set of rankings based largely on the opinion of academics.

But Harrow and Dulwich are quite frank in extolling the financial benefits of setting up branches abroad. Harrow has one in Beijing and one in Bangkok. Dulwich's three foreign daughter schools are all in China – in Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou. The heads of both schools say they will use the money to pay for bursaries back home.

In Dulwich's case, it is part of a planned strategy for the home school to become “needs blind” – reaching a happy state where it is able to accept whomever it wants for the London school simply because of their academic ability, regardless of their parents' ability to pay fees.

However, they are quite secretive about how much money they make from overseas operations. The model used by both schools – which is the standard for British private schools expanding abroad – is for a local partner to pay the British school for its name and expertise, and in return contract to guarantee similar quality to the home school. Barnaby Lenon, headmaster of Harrow, says the fee comes to “certainly six figures” in annual earnings from the two schools combined.

But some private school heads are sceptical about the virtues of expanding abroad into China and other countries, despite the financial inducements. One head pointed out that if a school earned £250,000 a year from a daughter branch, for example, that amounted only to 10 extra pupils at the British school – assuming typical fees for one of the grander boarding schools of about £25,000 a year. The head suggested that if a school was motivated purely by cost, moving abroad would not make sense, since it would take far less time and money to boost marketing in order to entice an extra 10 pupils to come to the school in Britain.

The checks and balances set up by British schools are certainly onerous. This reflects the dilemma facing most famous British schools that expand abroad: they want to make money for their home school, but without damaging their brand.

The elaborate systems include the right to appoint at least one of the governors, inspections by the home school's staff at least once year, and regular progress reports. Dulwich and its international partner appoint the head of each Chinese school by agreement. Mr Lenon says Harrow in London appoints the head of the Beijing school by itself.

But British educational organisations expanding into China face obstacles as well. Schools that choose to take in expats and teach them using a non-Chinese syllabus cannot also take in Chinese nationals, says Mr Batten of the British School of Beijing. Forced to choose between the two markets, most foreign schools have opted for foreign pupils – although GDST is bucking a trend by concentrating on Chinese students and a Chinese syllabus.

Mr Batten acknowledges that as a result of the split, “it is harder for us to fill up” – although he says the school can and does take many students who have dual nationality from China and another country. But he adds: “In other ways, it's better because if the school had 80 per cent native Chinese speakers, the level of English would not be so high.” This would slow the classroom dynamics, frustrating English-speaking pupils who were studying a syllabus in English.

Many schools and universities also say it is hard to expand into China without a local partner – a situation that can potentially dilute their power.

This is also the case in most of the other countries where British schools and universities are expanding, such as Thailand and the Gulf states. But most of these countries do not enforce the same strict split between local and foreign children that exists in China. This may explain why many traditional British private schools are planning to make their first foreign forays into other countries. Oundle, for example, is co-establishing a school in Dubai next year.

But some British private schools are still looking at China – as are several universities. These include Bedfordshire, which is considering a campus in China.