The International School of Macau is preparing for the future, with the expansion of its existing campus is a catalyst for that, Howard Stribbell, the head of the school, tells Business Daily
The International School (TIS) of Macau is constructing Phase II of its campus. How do you perceive the future of the institution?
We have always been surprised by how successful TIS has been and how quickly the school enrolment has grown. At this stage, we have way too many students for our space and that is why we have been planning Phase II for a number of years. Our plan right now is to cap the students at 1,600. We wont be looking to expand it more than that but I suspect we will be at that number very quickly. Maybe we will need to look at other alternatives.
Of those alternatives, is there any possibility of creating a new campus to take more students?
We havent had discussions with the government about that, but opening a new campus is something we are beginning to consider. We definitely sense a need for that. But we have to deal with the number one obstacle in Macau, which is space and land. However, were very interested in talking with the government about opening another campus, whether in Hengqin or in Macau. The next step for the International School is to have multiple campuses.
Will the expansion of the existing campus allow the directors to implement structural changes to the school?
Its going to allow us to continue to be a leader in technology and we are going to continue implementing more cutting-edge and innovative technology. Its going to allow us to meet students needs and to know that our students are achieving their goals successfully. We will use it to expand our Fine Arts programme as we have the Black Box Theatre.
When do you expect the new facilities to open?
We hope to have these facilities ready for the next school year. We had hoped it would be finished this year already. However, this Phase II took more time to plan and define than we expected because we wanted to make sure we would follow Macaus laws and guidelines and have everything approved according to the existing regulations.
You mentioned that the number of students is to be capped at 1,600. How many applications do you receive per year?
Last year, we limited our March 1st entries to 300 because we like to do individual interviews for every student up to Grade 3. This year, because the Education Department (DSEJ) changed the regulations, we cant say no to anyone. Were actually anticipating over 1,000 students will apply for the coming school year. But were only opening 90 vacancies, which means we will have to reject 910 applicants.
What is the profile of the students of TIS?
There are 44 nationalities at this school. Forty-five per cent of our students are from Macau, Hong Kong or China. The other 55 per cent come from 41 countries. The profile of our students is a very broad spectrum, and is more related to parents that want their children to study at an English language university, which can be anywhere in the world. We have a large number of Australian students that come to us, the same for North American and UK parents that want us to prepare their children for university.
Is it fair to say that many TIS students are associated with families working in the gaming industry?
The gaming industry is definitely a bedrock and were close to them to make sure we have facilities to provide education for their children, mainly related in these cases to expat families. When the operators are recruiting, the families are worried about housing, healthcare and education. If any of those three pieces is missing, then its very hard for a family to relocate to Macau. Were seeing all three of these areas increasing, so families are more interested in coming to Macau. That notwithstanding, it isnt only gaming; we have all the spin-off industries from gaming to construction to technology. Also, were seeing more and more government employees children coming to our school.
In Mainland China, theres a trend among the middle-class to try to have their children study in English-speaking universities. Is this common to Macau?
Macau families do the same and they want to have this choice. Were seeing many different cultures, Eastern and Western, emphasising the desire to have their children attend university education. In Macau, theres also a growing interest in foreign universities.
How do you perceive the potential of local students, especially when government policy is keen to develop and maintain local talent?
Every culture has students that want to achieve their goals and others that are not interested in achieving certain goals. First, we need to identify the local needs and try to meet them. Macau students first struggle is with the English language and so we need to bring them to a certain level of fluency. Once they do that, the battle is not over because to be successful in high school and university you have to go beyond the fluency level. You need to be fluent in academic English and that can be a big challenge. We are talking about exams that the average adult would not be able to pass. This level requires classes and a lot of study.
Macau has many job opportunities for local talent, many of which dont require much study. Do you feel local students have the ambition to have a career or do all these opportunities make them feel lost?
This is something we discuss a lot with our students. They are fluent in Chinese, English; they understand Easter and Western culture, and they are very sought after by gaming enterprises and other companies. As they graduate, they can probably go directly to the job market and get very high paid jobs. Im pleased to see our students are not doing that and are more focused on going to university. After university, they know they can come back and the opportunities, which were already good before, are much better.
But is this local talent interested in returning to Macau after studying abroad?
Were now starting to see these students from Macau after completing graduation coming back and getting involved in the community. This will happen more and more in the coming years and Im looking forward to seeing the impact of this on Macau society. This happens because Macau is full of opportunities. For those students that are ambitious and get the skills, Macau is a fantastic place for them. They can be very successful here. You also see expats coming to Macau, staying for a long time, and their children start to identify Macau as home. My daughter is a very good example of that. She came to Macau in Grade 1 and shes now in Grade 10. Her intention is to go to university and come back, because she feels Macau is her home.
Is the fact you provide students with an Alberta Diploma recognised in English-speaking countries the main advantage of TIS?
Definitely. The Alberta High School Diploma is the foundation for this school. In the beginning, our board looked at different Canadian provinces to use their curriculum and they chose the Alberta High School Diploma. This happened because of the standardised exam that allows students to be offered access to universities around the world. Another reason was the fact that students in Alberta tend to outperform all the students in the other Canadian provinces. We know it is a very rigorous programme. The proof is that 97 per cent of our students get offers of admission to universities or colleges around the world. Today, we have over 230 different universities giving offers of admission to our students.
Who are your main competitors in attracting students?
Actually, we dont see it as competition at all and we try to co-operate with them. It all depends on parental decision. We work very closely with Macau Anglican College and the School of Nations which are some of the other English language schools because the challenges we face are the same and were interested in increasing the level of English in the territory.
What is your opinion of the Macau school system?
Ive been here for ten years and seen a lot of good changes. I think the Education Department is heading in the right direction. They increasingly want their teachers to be trained as teachers, not only as subject specialists. They want students to be more involved in extracurricular activities. All of those things are things that deserve to be applauded.
What are the main challenges in Macau in terms of the system?
The challenges that we usually have with DSEJ are related to the way they try to achieve their goals. Sometimes they make laws on subjects when they should make guiding principles to give schools more freedom. I think DSEJ is trying to standardise the system but we have to be careful in doing so to preserve the good aspects of such a diverse system. Standardisation should be about minimum requirements and implemented to increase the level of the weaker schools to make sure that all students reach a decent level. But schools should have a lot of freedom to go above and beyond the minimal level.
In November last year, there were problems detected by the subsidies paid to private schools, which were said by the Commission of Audit to amount to MOP32.46 million. What is your view on the bureaucracy surrounding these processes? Were you surprised at this?
Yes, I was surprised about some discrepancies because the Education Department has always been very clear about its expectations and has always been very rigid about what you can or cannot use the money for. If you say youre going to buy ten blue basketballs and you buy only nine blue balls and a red one, then the red one is not going to count for them. Theyve been very strict that way and the report is very diligent. From my experience, the checks and balances are already there, so I was surprised to learn about gaps in such areas.
How do you accrue the budget for the year?
The bulk of our budget comes from parents schools fees. Our tuition is the highest in Macau but we are half of that of Hong Kong and a third of Shanghai or Beijing. We also receive some funding from the government, which is helpful. And parents also receive help from the government to pay for tuition. Tuition usually follows the inflation rate of Macau and ranges from MOP67,000 to MOP101,000 per year. Next year it will go up a little. Then we have a small donor programme where we work with some of the local partners such as resorts and casinos who sponsor the school as well.
