Strategy and Action Plan for Growing the Presence of the IB in China and Malaysia

Introduction

 

The non-profit International Baccalaureate Organisation (IBO) was started in Geneva in 1968[1], with the launch of the Diploma Programme. Although adopted initially by predominantly private international schools, today about 50% of schools running the International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes are state schools.

 

The IB programme consists of the Primary Years Programme (PYP, 3 to 12 years), the Middle Years Programme (MYP, 11 to 16 years) and the Diploma Programme (DP, 16 to 19 years)[2]. The PYP and the MYP lay the foundations for students to take on the demanding Diploma Programme. Students with the IB Diploma can then proceed to apply to the 2544 universities in 75 countries that recognize the IB Diploma[3].

 

Current Status of IB in China

 

There are a total of 58 schools in China offering the IB programme[4]. Peking University is listed as recognizing the IB Diploma but no recognition details are available. It is likely that this university recognizes the IB only for international students.

 

It is certain that the IB is currently not formally recognized for university entrance in China[5]. This applies even to Chinese who have studied overseas[6]. However there are many “joint-venture” universities that do recognize the IB for foreign applicants, like Liverpool University in Suzhou[7]. Unfortunately, these universities do not apply the same standards to Chinese students, which still admit them based on the gaokao[8]. Essentially, this means that Chinese students who do the IB can only study aboard and not in China.

 

Opportunities and Challenges in China

 

Increasing affluence and the One-Child Policy in China has resulted in parents wanting to spare their children the rigours and pains of the gaokao, but who balked at sending their children overseas at a young age. Fears include the loss of their own culture and language, and the possibility of the children getting into bad company away from the supervision of the parents.

 

Liberalisation and reform of the educational system has also started, with “Experimental” and “Foreign Language” schools springing up to cater to this very need. Schools like the World Foreign Language School Primary School (with PYP)[9] and Middle School (MYP and DP)[10] in Shanghai are instances of such moves in the nation. And this trend is not just in the first-tier cities. A county-level city, Zhangjiagang, has recently inked a deal with the China-Singapore International Education Services, Ltd (a company that runs many international schools in China, including the Suzhou Singapore International School, one of the largest in the nation and the largest in Jiangsu province) to run their “foreign language school” on the IB model[11].

 

For Chinese parents with the ability to send their children overseas for college, local recognition is not as big a deal as the availability of good alternative education systems recognized by these overseas institutions. The SAT/AP offers a quick way into a popular education destination – the United States. Similarly, the GCSE offers another direct way into the UK and many commonwealth countries like Australia. The level of brand recognition of the IB among the Chinese is lower compared to the other two educational qualifications, and thus the alternative tends to be offered by many Foreign Language Schools and Experimental Schools.

 

Many of the schools which may want to offer IB also consider the cost of running the programme. A simple DP authorization is USD10,200 a year[12], but a greater part of costs comes from teacher training and certification, which can easily run to USD20,000 to USD30,000 a year. And all these assume that the examination fees are passed down to the students.

 

Strategy and Action Plan to Pursue

 

A long-term view is needed to secure the IB brand in the psyche of the Chinese, and the IBO should not consider any “hard-sell” tactics, which is not viewed favourably by the Chinese. The strategy to pursue in China must consider three important points.

 

1.         The Chinese is very nationalistic but also welcomes “western education” and any form of value-for-money proposition for their increasingly precious single child

2.         The government is very wary of external influences upon the nation but is willing to entertain these influences if they are perceived to be controllable.

3.         There is currently very little IB presence in the native language, for presentation to ministry and school officials in the cities.

 

Value for Money – Truly International Education

 

The IB, unlike the SAT/AP and the GCSE, is not limited to either North America or the Commonwealth countries. The IB should be pitched to prospective schools as truly internationally recognized. The increased cost of the programme can also be pitched positively as a symbol of its prestige and quality, something the Chinese is very sensitive to. This also means that the IB will also need to be brought across to the top tier schools in the city, rather than the middle or bottom tier, in order to find the necessary financial support from the local government and upper class Chinese.

 

Chinese National Pride – International Chinese Education

 

Currently, the IB Diploma can only be offered in three languages – English, French and Spanish[13]. It is believed one of the reasons why the Ministry of Education refuses to move into formal recognition is the lack of internal Chinese controls for the Diploma.

 

Forming an education team, based either in the APAC headquarters in Singapore or preferably in Beijing, to enable the IB Diploma to be done in Chinese will be a good first move in securing the government’s cooperation in this matter. It will be a matter of national pride and will raise important political capital for the officials involved in this. And once formal recognition is given by Beijing, the policy will filter down to the universities, to give the same formal recognition to the IB Diploma.

 

Increasing Brand Name among Chinese Educators

 

Attempts must also be made to reach out to the local educational bureaus in the cities, starting with the major ones like Shanghai and Guangzhou, but also moving into the second and third tier cities which are booming[14] as a result of new FDI and central government funding.

 

A slow but steady strategy of establishing an IB school in each of these cities should be pursued, with the local staff pursuing the goal of getting IB teachers in other Chinese schools (or Chinese-speaking IB teachers from international schools) to speak at educational conferences organized by the local Educational Bureau. Additionally, the local staff should also organize educational conferences sponsored by the IBO, again with Chinese speakers to teach theories of international education and other educational theories. All these conferences tend to be covered by media, resulting in stronger exposure of the IB.

 

Current Status of IB in Malaysia

 

There are 11 schools in Malaysia offering the IB programme[15]. Three national universities were listed as recognizing the IB Diploma, but on a case by case basis. In addition, interviews with Malaysians and other sources[16] indicated that (like China) natives are still being considered on the basis of their STPM or their Malaysia matriculation exams when they apply to the national and state universities, rather than the IB Diploma.

 

Opportunities and Challenges in Malaysia

 

Unlike China, where alternative education besides the gaokao is neither readily available nor widespread, Malaysia’s educational system does have alternatives like the Chinese schools (teaching in Chinese) and the mission schools (teaching in English). The clamour for alternative educational systems besides those already available is also not as high compared to that in China.

 

This considerably narrows the opportunities for IB, seen currently as the domain of international schools. Not only that, but the proximity of Singapore, with its strong historical ties, reputation for a strong educational system and availability of international schools offering the IB and boarding facilities, means any student desiring an IB education would rather study in Singapore.

 

The proximity and the historical ties of Singapore, however, makes for an interesting argument for opportunities in Malaysia – the government of Malaysia has a mandate to make the nation an educational hub[17] as well, competing with more prosperous Singapore[18]. Not only that, but there has been concerns over brain drain to nations like neighbouring Singapore[19]. Engagements with the government is more likely under such circumstances, especially with world renown institutions like the IBO.

 

Strategy and Action Plan to Pursue

 

The strategy involved in the Malaysian market will hinge around two major thrusts.

 

1.         Chinese education needs

2.         Engaging the government to allow explicit recognition of the IB Diploma

 

The pride of the Malaysian Chinese in their ethnicity is very high. The continual growth of the Chinese schools gives testimony to that. If the IBO is able to gain formal recognition in Chinese universities by working on a Chinese IB Diploma, it will attract students who wish to further their education in Chinese, on the Chinese mainland.

 

And if the IBO is unable to gain traction in the Chinese IB Diploma in China, it should get a springboard to do so in Malaysia, where its proximity to Indonesia and Singapore (both nations with significant Chinese populations) will enable it to also attract students from these nations who wish to pursue their studies in Chinese, using an international curriculum.

 

Unfortunately, it is trickier in Malaysia, where racial sensitivity and the government’s preference for bumiputra are in place, to put forth the Chinese international curriculum. For Malaysia, engagement with the government will have to be with the understanding that acceptance of IB Diplomas in their universities will enable them to bring back those professionals whose children have been studying in international schools. It will also enable them to further offer their country as the low-cost choice of education to neighbouring Singapore.

 

Conclusion

 

The IB education is widely considered by leading educational experts to be one of the most humanistic and international of educational systems. Unfortunately, its origin in Europe meant that it tends to be seen as an “outsider” to the more traditional educational systems of East, South-east and South Asia.

 

With the rise of China in importance in the world stage, inroads should be made in the most populous nation in the world for both adoption of the programmes at the grade school level and recognition at universities. Malaysia, being the closest neighbour to the Asia-Pacific HQ of the IBO (Singapore) should also benefit from the growth being driven from the tiny island north of the Equator.

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[1]International Baccalaureate Organisation 2005-2011, “History of the International Baccalaureate”, <http://www.ibo.org/history/>, last viewed 18 Nov 2011

[2]International Baccalaureate Organisation 2005-2011, “Three Programmes at a Glance”, <http://www.ibo.org/programmes/>, last viewed 18 Nov 2011

[3]International Baccalaureate Organisation 2005-2011, “University Recognition Directory”, <http://www.ibo.org/diploma/recognition/directory/index.cfm>, last viewed 18 Nov 2011

[4]International Baccalaureate Organisation 2005-2011, “Country Information for China”, <http://www.ibo.org/country/CN/index.cfm>, last viewed 18 Nov 2011

[5]Author/Copyright Unknown, “International Schools in Hong Kong”, <http://www.english-schools.org/hong-kong/index.htm>, last viewed 18 Nov 2011

[6] CNIS 2006-2010, “Questions and Answers”, <http://www.cnis.edu.sg/index.php?id=128#10>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[7] Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 2008-2010, “Your Country”, <http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/admissions/international/your-country.html>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[8] Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University 2008-2010, “Applying”, <http://www.xjtlu.edu.cn/en/admissions/undergraduate/applying>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[9] Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School (copyright year unknown), “Shanghai World Foreign Language Primary School”, <http://www.wflps.com/wflps/Pages/Front/Index/Index.aspx>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[10]Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School (copyright year unknown), “Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School”, <http://www.wflms.com/index1.jsp>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[11] (Website is in Chinese) 张家港市教育局 2008-2011, “我市第一所真正意义上的国际学校明年秋季“亮相””, <http://www.zjgedu.com.cn/Article/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=2180>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[12]International Baccalaureate Organisation 2005-2011, “Fees and Services”,<http://www.ibo.org/become/fees/>, last viewed 18 Nov 2011

[13]International Baccalaureate Organisation 2005-2011, “Three Programmes at a Glance”,<http://www.ibo.org/programmes/>, last viewed 18 Nov 2011

[14] China.org.cn (copyright year unknown), “China's second-tier cities booming”, <http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/230323.htm>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[15]International Baccalaureate Organisation 2005-2011, “Country Information for Malaysia”,<http://www.ibo.org/country/MY/index.cfm>, last viewed 18 Nov 2011

[16] Syncnet Enterprise 2009, “Malaysia”, <http://wvvw.studyinternational.com.my/inedu-my.asp>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[17]Star Publications (M) Bhd 1995-2011, “Help make Malaysia an education hub, varsities urged”, The Star, dated 28 Jul 2007, <http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/7/28/nation/18436079&sec=nation>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[18]Down, Dale 2009, “Malaysia: Future hub of international education?”, University World News, dated 6 Sep 2009, <http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090903203756838>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011

[19]Wei Lian, Lee 2011, “Malaysia’s brain drain getting worse, says World Bank”, The Malaysian Insider, dated 28 Apr 2011, <http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/malaysias-brain-drain-getting-worse-says-world-bank>, last viewed 19 Nov 2011