To those thinking of bringing their family to HK...
An article in today's International Herald Tribune.
School shortage dims Hong Kong's appeal
By Le-Min Lim Bloomberg News
HONG KONG: Judy Carline helps expatriates settle in after they've transferred to Hong Kong. These days, she spends most of her time helping anxious parents who are trying to get their kids into international schools.
"This year is particularly bad," says Carline, a real estate agent at Savills. There are more of "these bankers, between 35 and 42, with young children. These days, people think their 3-year-olds are going to Harvard. The Manhattan ladies, they are the worst. They work themselves into a state."
Hong Kong's booming economy and increased demand for English-language instruction from local Chinese parents have filled the city's international schools to the bursting point. The shortage is so bad that some employees have decided not to relocate to Hong Kong, says Lee Quane, Hong Kong-based general manager at the personnel consultant ECA International.
"Those who reject Hong Kong are the ones with families," says Quane. "Pollution used to be the main reason, now education is coming to the fore."
U.S. families face particular hassles. Hong Kong International School, or HKIS, the largest of three schools teaching a U.S. curriculum, has a waiting list of 630 for the fall term. The school, which charges as much as 157,100 Hong Kong dollars, or $20,110, a year, has 2,600 places for students aged 4 to 18.
"The number of children on our wait lists is at historic highs," says the school director, Richard Mueller. "Demand has gone up dramatically since 2005 because more companies are adding staff or relocating to Hong Kong to tap China's economic growth."
That contrasts with 2003, when an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, killed 299 people in Hong Kong, causing expatriates to flee. International schools responded by admitting more local children, Mueller says.
Demand for English-language schools has increased since Hong Kong returned to Chinese control in 1997. Since then, three-quarters of the city's 414 secondary schools have had to switch their language of instruction to Cantonese from English.
About 70 percent of students at international schools are locals whose parents left Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s and later returned, says David Dodwell, former head of a government education advisory committee.
Tracie Pangrazio started looking for schools in March 2006, 10 months before her family moved to Hong Kong from Singapore. While 12-year-old Ben immediately landed a place at the Australian International School, Matthew, 8, and Laura, 6, didn't secure spots until November.
"We didn't think schooling would be such a problem, and certainly not in a city like Hong Kong," says Pangrazio.
The rush for school places has grown with Hong Kong's economy. Companies raised 325.4 billion dollars in the city last year, making it the biggest market for initial public offerings, ahead of London and New York, according to Ernst & Young.
"While supply is expanding, they aren't keeping apace of demand," says Mark Michelson, an associate director at InvestHK, the city's investment promotion agency.
Hong Kong's government says there are plenty of spaces for expatriate students. The city has 35,900 places for expatriate students, only 85 percent of which are filled, says Bernadette Linn, deputy secretary at the Education and Manpower Bureau.
Those figures are misleading, says Jack Maisano, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
"Schools are not all of the same caliber," he says. "Many are not where executives would send their kids."
Hong Kong's first fee-charging international schools - like HKIS, French International School and Chinese International School - were set up as nonprofit institutions under British rule to serve the overseas business community.
Since 1967, the government-subsidized English Schools Foundation has offered a cheaper alternative at 10 grade schools and five secondary schools. For-profit schools also provide an alternative, though facilities are typically more cramped.
Companies like FedEx try to secure places by buying debentures issued by top schools. The certificates help schools raise money, while giving the holders priority in admissions.
"There's a long queue to get into the better international schools," says Winnie Chan, a Hong Kong-based FedEx human resources officer. "That's why we offer debentures."
Gwen Dahlberg paid 250,000 dollars in 2002 for a debenture to help her daughter enroll at the Canadian International School.
While her 10-year-old daughter has since transferred to a school in a rural area of Lantau Island, Dahlberg says she is not selling the debenture. Canadian International's debentures, which now sell for 450,000 dollars for individuals, are sold out.
"Knowing how competitive it now is to get a place at the Canadian International School, we thought we would keep the debenture as a security measure," says the Hong Kong-born Dahlberg.
Ultimately, Hong Kong must add more international school places, says Michelson at InvestHK. That may require government intervention because nonprofit schools rely on government land grants to expand. Such schools are mostly located in the city's most expensive neighborhoods and should consider opening new facilities in more remote areas, Linn says.
"This school situation is going to get worse, not better," says Carline of Savills. "The government hasn't done enough to deal with this problem."