Hainan free trade port becoming an attractive destination for opening-up and cooperation in international education

Haikou, China, Jan. 29, 2021 (Antara/Xinhua-AsiaNet)- "I was shocked at the efficiency of agreement signing, site selection and construction. It took just 2-year to build a brand new campus covering 145 mu (about 96,666.7 square meters)," said Jo Evans. She recalled the the establishment of Harrow School Haikou and showed respect.

Chinese government decided to build Hainan free trade port into a benchmark for educational innovation in 2019.

Jo Evans previously worked as an executive at prestigious international schools in Beijing and Shanghai. A year ago, she received an offer from Harrow International School Haikou to invite her to serve as vice principal. Out of curiosity about Hainan, she quickly accepted. As various policies have come out in succession, Jo Evans feels that it is more convenient for foreigners to work and live in Hainan. She is busy but happy.

According to The Education Department of Hainan Province, with the opening-up in international education, 36 well-known colleges, like Fachhochschule Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences, Coventry University and University of Alberta, have made cooperation to set up campuses in Hainan. They mainly settle in the career of Li'an International Education Innovation Pilot Zone in Lingshui and Yazhou Bay Sci-Tech City in Sanya.

"With a large number of high-quality education resources, Sanya will embrace top talents in related fields," said Tong Liyan, Full-time Deputy Party Secretary of the Yazhou Bay Sci-Tech City Administration.

In the past two years, a total of 400 education projects are under construction in Hainan, with a total investment of about 4600 million US dollars. Affected by the COVID-19, since the end of the last year, some parents who planned to send their children abroad to study have turned their eyes back to China's study-abroad policies and job information in Hainan.

"The development of the Hainan Free Trade Port will attract more excellent students to international schools here," said Jo Evans, who also brought her son and daughter to Haikou. "They have quickly adapted to the new environment. Blue sky, white clouds and tropical flavors are so attractive that they can go to the beach to collect shells after school. They have fallen in love with Haikou just like me."

Source: The Education Department of Hainan Province

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