Newman Huo

    INTERNATIONAL schools are looking to the city government for support in acquiring land to build new campuses as the new school year begins.

    The Shekou International School (SIS) has enrolled about 620 students from 37 countries and regions for the new semester started Aug. 14.

    There are more than 130 members of staff including 25 new foreign teachers and interns this semester.

    SIS is a candidate this year for the National Center for School Curriculum and Textbook Development (NCCT) accreditation by the Ministry of Education and expects to be the first international school in Guangdong Province to be recognized.

    The school has added four new classrooms and 400 square meters of office space this year. Two expansion projects, including a new elementary building and an arts complex, are in the final design phase.

    According to Robert Dunseth, SIS director, the city’s education bureau has met with SIS regarding the expansions.

    “We hope to secure land in Nanshan to build a state-of-the-art school. It is essential that the Shenzhen government support our expansion because providing land, as has been done in many other Chinese cities, is critical,” Dunseth said.

    Started in 1988 and continuously accredited since 1990, SIS is the oldest international school in Shenzhen.

    With the new semester beginning Aug 21, the QSI International School of Shekou (QSI) has enrolled 862 students from 47 countries and regions. The school has 108 foreign faculty members and more than 75 Chinese colleagues.

    QSI is finalizing preparations for International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Program authorization this year to earn the right to be the first school in Shenzhen to offer this prestigious secondary program.

    The school is remodeling a new facility for 400 students in Fenghua Grand Theater near the Shekou Sports Center in Nanshan District. The new facility will open in February next year.

    “Like all other international schools in Shenzhen, our school needs support and assistance from the city government in procuring land to serve our entire student body in one central, self-contained facility in Shekou,” said Britt Brantley, director of QSI.

    QSI has become the fastest growing international school in the city since it opened with only 21 students in August 2001.

    The International School of Sino-Canada (ISSC), another international school in Nanshan District, had a total of 146 students from kindergarten through grade 12 when the school opened Thursday.

    The students are from more than 20 countries and regions with the biggest number holding Canadian citizenship. There are 212 Canadian teachers among the 27 faculty members.

    Opening in 2002, the school has acquired land to build a new campus at the foot of Tanglang Mountain in Nanshan District.

    “ISSC does appreciate all the help and support the government has given throughout the past six years and we look forward to even better cooperation in the future,” said Joyce Pang, the school’s executive director.

    Established in Shekou in June this year, the Japanese School of Shenzhen (JSS) is scheduled to open today.

    The school now has only 10 full-time teachers offering Japanese curricula to the 40 Japanese students from primary school through high school.

    “Our rented teaching building in Shekou can hold only a maximum of 200 students. With the school’s development, JSS expects to build a campus of its own in three years,” said a Chinese employee, surnamed Cui, who works in the school’s general office.

    With the new semester starting Aug. 25, the Korean International School (KIS) opened on a rented campus in Xiasha in Futian District with more than 70 students from South Korea.

    KIS attracted more than 150 South Korean students when it was established on a rented campus in Xixiang, Bao’an District in 2005.

    “Because most of our students live within the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (SEZ), we have to decide to move our campus to Futian this year to make it more convenient for our students and their parents,” said Nan Shunluo, a Chinese member of the KIS board of trustees.

    “We’re planning to build or rent a permanent campus of our own in the SEZ in two or three years,” said Nan.

    Approved by the Ministry of Education in 2005, the Shenzhen American International School (SAIS) expects to build a campus in the Futian Free Trade Zone in Futian District this year.

    “We’re still negotiating with the Futian District Government about the land in the Futian Free Trade Zone and expect to start construction of our campus by the end of this year as soon as the land problem is solved,” said Chen Nanxian, director of the SAIS broad of trustees.