Private / Public Schools and Brexit

[jellycat1]

I read the Education boards a lot as we are planning to put our two sons through the pre-prep/prep/public school route. We haven't decided exactly where, but it will either be day Prep in SW London - so on the crazy 7/8+ bus, or a Surrey / Berkshire area day/boarding prep to 13.
My question is to current parents - what is your sense of the effect, if any, of Brexit on the demand for places at the selectives / super selectives? Do you think it may soften demand a bit or have no noticeable effect? We are overseas currently and all my friends' kids are older, so I feel a bit in the dark about it all - but then aren't we all...! Sigh...!
I know nobody has the answer right now but just interested in your thoughts really and what you hear in your schools.
TIA.

rocketgirl
What ARE you on about?

@rocketgirl22 how is UK's involvement in Galileo satelitę project looking?

You may sigh over brexit, living overseas you are clearly out of touch with more things than just schools. Best advice is don't come back unless you are willing to support the country through the changes we are making for our children's future

Are you directing that ignorant and obnoxious reply at me Rocketgirl?? Because if so you couldn't be wider of the mark. We have two properties and a business in London and all other family investments are also in the UK. We come back every other month and judging by your idiotic post I can guarantee I am more 'in touch' with reality than you are.

Thanks to everyone who's come on with stats and personal experience. It's been a really interesting and informative thread for me.

Do we know how many independent school places were awarded to Chinese candidates in 2017, 2016 and 2015 and what proportion of places did that represent?

www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-08/14/content_30571826_2.htm

All sorts of interesting stats here:
ISC Annual Census:
www.isc.co.uk/research/annual-census/

Thanks Clavinova, very informative. So the number of mainland-China originating pupils in UK independent schools has 'soared' to short of 8000 of 650000 pupils educated in the independent sector, i.e. 1.2%.

For comparison, the number of EU-originating students is about twice that (ca. 15.5K).

DS2 said there were very few mainland Chinese at his school but a significant number of HK Chinese this I understand is because HK Chinese are more likely to be fluent in English and therefore get into super selective schools at 13.
There are also an increasing number of South Koreans, Japanese etc at his school.
I’m all in favour of a internationally very diverse cohort as I hope it promotes understanding and tolerance especially as some pro Brexit supporters seem to be preaching an alternative message.

YYY Draylon, and the spectacle the public school boys in government are making of themselves isn't very impressive either.

Draylon the international parents of DCs going to elite public schools are n't buying into global influence and access through the schools, they are that global network.

BTW The one thing I would say for schools like Eton, young men leave thinking that public service is a worthwhile aim (even if they are not always very good at it).

happygardening
Certainly, the ISC figures show nearly 5,000 pupils from Hong Kong.

For comparison, the number of EU-originating students is about twice that (ca. 15.5K)

Although nearly 18,000 pupils originate from the Far East overall.

What did surprise me yesterday was the growing UK expansion abroad:
Westminster School is planning 6 new schools in China from 2020.
Several day schools - Lady Eleanor Holles (International) opens in Foshan, China in September 2018 and Reigate Grammar is planning 5 schools in China from 2020. King's College Taunton is the first UK boarding school to venture into India and Birmingham University is opening a campus in Dubai in September. It seems like British-backed education is very much in demand.

@happygardening Agree on the diversity point. Let's just not lull ourselves into thinking the foreign students will save the day whatever the Brexit damage to the economy and thus the core domestic demand.

"What did surprise me yesterday was the growing UK expansion abroad"

That just means there will be fewer pupils coming here.

That just means there will be fewer pupils coming here

Not necessarily - India is set to rival China as the fastest growing economy in the world; relatively few Indian pupils at boarding schools here, but the number of multi-millionaires in India is forecast to rise by 70% in the next five years. Besides, the more revenue that UK private schools can generate abroad, the more bursaries and fee reductions they can offer to pupils here - which seems to be the motivation behind Reigate Grammar School's planned expansion.

The British Boarding Schools Show is visiting Mumbai for the first time in September 2018.

LondonMum8 I’m not lulling myself into thinking foreign students will save the day I’m desperately trying to find a crumb of something decent in a crap situation.

clavinova
India is set to rival China as the fastest growing economy in the world
I'll believe in India becoming an economic superpower when they get more than half of their population using toilets.
Nothing I read in the business press tells me that India's economy will become truly dynamic within the next 15 years.

^www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-08/14/content_30571826_2.htm^

Good insightful report and statistics given there above by China Daily dot com and not a word about ‘Brexit’.

”They won't give two monkeys if the UK is in or out . . .” [Sat 24-Mar]

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

All sorts of interesting stats here:
ISC Annual Census:
^www.isc.co.uk/research/annual-census/^

Except that not a single word is mentioned about ‘Brexit’ by this ISC Annual Census!

”. . . not only do most Asian people don't know what the EU is or what it really means - they don't give a flying toss if they did . . .” [Mon 26-Mar]

”What did surprise me yesterday was the growing UK expansion abroad:
Westminster School is planning 6 new schools in China . . . It seems like British-backed education is very much in demand.”

I’m not in the least surprised. British-backed education is definitely much in demand in Asia and in the UK itself except for people who are living in a box – doom merchants who cannot see beyond the shores of the British Isles who are permanently brain-damaged and intoxicated by their unelected European masters to whom they are willingly submitting themselves. And thank goodness, there are the majority who’d just woken up just in time to realise what a merry-go-round they had been led into in the last 40-plus years to be able now to see the EXIT door.

Not only are British schools establishing themselves in Asia now but in fact British universities have been doing it for the last two decades or so. Nottingham University (my DD’s alma mater) was the first British university to build a campus abroad in Malaysia in 2000 followed by another campus in China four years later. I actually visited their Malaysian Semenyeh site with my DD when we went there in 2013.

In addition, Newcastle University has a campus based in Johor, the southern state of the Malay peninsula offering medical degrees – the first UK university to offer medical degrees at an international campus – as well as another campus next door in Singapore offering degrees in engineering, architecture and nutrition. That’s not to mention Imperial College too running a new medical college in Singapore jointly with Nanyang Technological University (S’pore).

Liverpool University had been looking towards Asia too having formed a joint-venture university with a local institution in Suzhou, one of China’s most developed cities. No doubt, the list of British universities and schools looking to establish overseas is set to continue well after Brexit. Meanwhile, the local educational institutions based on British soil, schools and universities alike, remain as sought after by Asian, Middle-Eastern and Russian families as ever. Asia’s huge population alone that makes up appx. 60% of mankind (not like some bird-brain who needs wakingupfast who thinks it’s only 100 million people) is cast iron guarantee to sustain British education till kingdom come. If collectively all of them were to take a pee simultaneously, it would cause a flood of biblical proportions in some EU countries!

Im also not surprised that many British Schools are expanding abroad because that quite clearly is where the money is and where significant interest lies. Ditto universities and I thing its a good thing something that should be encouraged. But unlike peteneras I don't see the UK's future outside of the EU in quite such a positive light and many young people that I talk too are appalled and feel that it is their future that is being decided upon by people who wont be around to see how successful or not it is and who have little understanding of the their hopes values and aspirations!

China is aware of a brain drain problem and recognises the need to set up elite educational opportunities within China. I suspect there is a limit to the growth potential for British boarding schools.

American universities are way ahead in the foreign campuses game.

www.ucd.ie/news/2012/09AUG12/130912-Chinese-Government-gives-approval-to-UCDs-International-College-in-Beijing.html
2012 article - University College Dublin making inroads internationally.
'The Chinese Ministry for Education has given its approval to the joint venture between University College Dublin (UCD) and Beijing University of Technology (BJUT) to establish the Beijing-Dublin International College in the Chinese capital this September.'

'The approval is the final step required for official recognition of degrees in China and means graduates will be awarded both UCD and Chinese qualifications...'

'...UCD already has a presence in a number of countries and over 4,000 students are taking UCD degrees in China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sri Lanka. UCD and RCSI have run a successful medical school, Penang Medical College, in Malaysia for over a decade and UCD is currently assisting Shenzhen University in China with the development of its new medical school.'

@peteneras aka Priti: You should blame TM rather than the EU for the immigration hell you had go through to get into the country. Your disgusting anti-European vitrol is quite offensive in general, and particularly given that ca. 95% of the people in this country are European!

Now LondonMum8, you’re beginning to lose it as your mind is getting blurred because you’re now putting words in my mouth. Please show me where on this board and indeed anywhere at MN that I am “anti-European” or anti-immigration? The fundamental problem with you Remainers is that you assume all Brexiters are anti-immigration. Brexiters are not anti-immigration! All they are asking is that immigration be properly controlled at the borders like the rest of the world are doing (other than the ridiculous EU – and even that various component states of the EU are beginning to show their impatience!).

Your inability to read my postings in simple English has led you to conclude that I’m “anti-European” which I’m not. Indeed some of my best friends are Polish and Romanians if you must know, and I advise them on various matters for free! You failed to understand that many Europeans themselves in Europe are anti-EU and have consistently voted in that direction but had been forcefully suppressed by the unelected and undemocratic “masters” at Brussels which is really what I am against.

Look no further than within these shores to see what’s happening here. Your chum, Tony Blair until just a few days ago was still asking the democratically mandated Brexit to be reversed! It’s people like him – including yourself - and his mates at Brussels that are offensive!

Please show me where on this board and indeed anywhere at MN that I am “anti-European”

Sure, for example the comment below was fairly demeaning to Europeans, as you evoked an image of some of the countries getting flooded by massive amounts of Asian pee:

"Asia’s huge population alone that makes up appx. 60% of mankind (not like some bird-brain who needs wakingupfast who thinks it’s only 100 million people) (...) If collectively all of them were to take a pee simultaneously, it would cause a flood of biblical proportions in some EU countries!"

There was another particularly reprehensible comment recently, but it has rightly been deleted by MN:

"peteneras Tue 27-Mar-18 09:05:59
Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines."

You have been consistently obnoxious towards people, here, for example by saying things like:

"Your problem is, wakemeupbefore, you don't know the depth of your ignorance and stupidity in order for you to come here to correct my grammar and question my knowledge on British public schools."

To address a few other of your points:
The fundamental problem with you Remainers is that you assume all Brexiters are anti-immigration. Brexiters are not anti-immigration!

I believe there are some groups within the Leave camp who are very much anti-immigration, and racist. Please google "UKIP racism" for more information. It's funny these people found allies in a subset of Asian community, given that said community is generally despised by UKIP members, as prof. Google will hopefully explain.

Some non-EU immigrants such as yourself are vehemently against EU immigration because they view it as unfair. What they don't understand is that after Brexit getting in will be just as hard, and once in you will no longer have immigrated into the world's top 5 economy, a major gateway to Europe, but into a declining country with it's main industries decimated by Brexit.

You failed to understand that many Europeans themselves in Europe are anti-EU

This is a minority overall, and with a similar statistical profile to that of a Leave voter, so I'm not personally too impressed.

To sum up my own and other's observations, your aggressive and inflammatory comments have been consistently full of insults and inaccuracies and as such are hardly conducive to a sensible debate nor are they in adherence to MN's Talk Guidelines, surely.