Beijing Ranks As Having the Most Expensive International Schools in the World

Education is important, there’s no doubt about that, but it's also extremely lucrative – or costly – depending on which side of the service you sit on. In the latest data provided by the International Schools Database, the price of school tuition speaks for itself.

This year, China on average ranks as having the most expensive schools in the world. Even worse news for parents looking for a potential school in the capital: Beijing leads the charge with the most expensive schools in the world at a median average of around RMB 219,000-plus per year. Shanghai is a close second at RMB 210,000 per year, and Shenzhen third with RMB 173,000.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Phnom Penh in Cambodia, Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and Phuket in Thailand offer the cheapest international school prices in Asia, the former offering annual tuition fees as low as RMB 13,000.

In Beijing, the difference between the cheapest and the most expensive tuition fees is over RMB 230,000, which goes to show that while the city can be expensive for tuition, it also has enough variety to cater to a wide spectrum of incomes. The desire for parents to give their children "the best" of everything has made education one of the most profitable industries in China, and will have an estimated value of RMB 2.9 trillion worldwide by 2020.

But it’s not just the demand for international education that’s driving up the tuition prices. Beijing’s international schools are also bringing their A-game when it comes to attracting top educators from around the world and continuously providing them with the up-to-date training and materials that they need for success. Also, with the rise of state-of-the-art technology, more and more money is going towards ensuring that children have the most up-to-date learning tools at their fingertips.

Considering the relative youth of Beijing's international schools – International School of Beijing (ISB), the city’s oldest international school, was only founded in 1980 – it looks like educators here have a lot to be happy about.

Find the full breakdown of international school fees via the International Schools Database website here.

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This article comes from our sister site beijingkids.

Photos: MD Duran (via Unsplash), International Schools Database