校园动态 | 英国枢密院顾问、上议院议员Lord Jo Johnson到访我校，共话教育新图景

Lord Jo Johnson, colleagues from the Achieve Group, teachers, and students:

On behalf of the 1,800 students and teachers from BANZ education group,I extend a warm welcome to Lord Jo Johnson and all the distinguished guests.

The pathway part of BANZ Education Group, namely the School of International Education, Shanghai Normal University Tianhua College, has established credit recognition cooperation projects with numerous world-renowned universities, such as Monash University in Australia, The Northern Consortium UK, which includes the University of Manchester, the University of Bristol, the University of Leeds,. With the support of Chinese Service Center for Scholarly Exchange, we are offering the highest level of pathway programs currently available in China.

The high school part of BANZ Education Group, namely BANZ Global Campus, is a leading provider of A-levels, VCE, and AP courses, with 1,500 students across three continents, four countries, and five campuses. Our UK campus is located in Birmingham, in collaboration with the prestigious Abbotsholme School. The other four campuses are in Shanghai, Singapore, and Melbourne Australia. We are also an authorized IELTS test center and a global partner school of the British Council. Each year, over 300 graduates are admitted to Ivy League universities, Oxford, Cambridge, and IC. They also have the opportunity to enter our Pathway programs.

The British education system, renowned for its "elite education," has become a mainstream educational system globally due to its rich history, profound heritage, and the outstanding talents it has nurtured. In 2018, BANZ Education Group collaborated with Abbotsholme School, a paradigm of British elite education, to officially establish Abbotsholme Shanghai School, initiating a new model of Sino-foreign cooperative education for A-Level courses. By refining the essence of both Chinese and British education and drawing inspiration from Abbotsholme School's century-old philosophy of "An Education for Life," the school aims to promote the development of students' strengths and individual needs. Its curriculum is implemented through a "specialized course selection" and "stratified class teaching" model, offering seven specialized curriculum plans to cater to the learning needs of diverse students. It creates an educational environment where "everyone can succeed and have their own stage," ensuring that every student has the experience of success.

Now, in the seventh year of our collaboration with Abbotsholme School, the school has achieved significant jumps in various evaluation indicators and comprehensive rankings, marking an iterative upgrade from "BANZ Speed" to "BANZ Quality" and finally to the "BANZ Model." As Abbotsholme School's flagship school in China, we will continue to contribute the "Shanghai Solution" to the AC Alliance and Sino-foreign cooperative education. I believe that Lord Jo Johnson's visit today not only affirms BANZ's educational endeavors but also elevates BANZ's educational standards to a new height, making it an important force in China's international education.

While honors and titles are important references and indicators of a school's success, what truly determines the height of a school's life is, and will always be, the quality of talent cultivation. Today's children are a generation grown up in the internet environment, with broad knowledge and strong personalities. Pseudo-adulthood, loose-circle ideology, and passionate experiences are notable characteristics of post-2005 high school students. How to seriously learn, live, and work with these future forces will be a topic for each educator to carefully consider. Because grades are temporary, success is lifelong, and children's growth spans their entire lives.

In this new era where new technologies, industries, and platforms are constantly emerging, when we ponder the essence of education, we discover that only values that transcend time and space accompany us as we continuously move from history into the future. These values become firmer and more evident through various tests, and that is love. Education starts with love, Loving hearts educate loving souls. Of course, all of this requires our joint efforts, borrowing the flag signal sent by Admiral Horatio Nelson in the naval battle that established the position of the British Navy: "England expects that every man will do his duty."

The three-year pandemic has given us a more intuitive understanding of the community of a shared future for mankind and a deeper recognition of the role of international education in talent cultivation. Today, we gather here from around the world, witnessed by Lord Jo Johnson, to embark on a new chapter of China's international education with Abbotsholme School, this century-old British institution. I believe that our future collaboration will undoubtedly become the most touching Chinese story on this land! Let's dream together, let's work together to make our future happen. Our consolidated effort will be paid off.

Once again, thank you all for your presence.

When you think about your future educational journey, I think I can boil it down to five principal reasons.

The first reason is that we have a very large number of highly ranked institutions in the UK. The UK. Okay, here's a question. What percent of the world's population is the UK? Hands up. Anybody? 1% of the world's population lives in the UK. Come on, give me a guess. Someone? Okay, right. You said one. That's correct. Good one. Very good. Absolutely right. We are just 1% of the world's population, but the UK has a very large share of the world's most highly ranked universities. So if you can tell me, how many universities does the UK have in the world's top 10 as ranked by us or Times Higher? How many does the UK have in the world's top 10? Anybody? Three or four? Depending on the ranking, depending on the year. Okay, you can tell me what those universities are. Cambridge, Oxford. Oxford, I know. Principal Nancy, by you've got to know. Hahaha, I need to sue. Cambridge, Oxford. I see. UCL, Imperial. Okay, you got Cambridge, Oxford, Imperial, UCL. But it's not just those four which are globally renowned in the UK. Also, it has 18 in the top 100 and about 40 in the top 200 universities in the world. So there's really a large, a wide range of good institutions, highly ranked institutions to choose from. And that really matters because employers take notice and it helps you secure good jobs and good career outcomes. So that's reason one. We have a large number of globally regarded institutions in the UK.

Reason No. 2, it's an English - speaking environment. That's also important. Businesses welcome people who have high degrees of fluency in English. Not because English is the only language or the most important language. There are lots of important languages in the world. But it is still a major language for international business. And fluency in English can be a real asset to you in your working lives.

Reason No. 3, degrees in the UK don't take very long, right? Three years for an undergrad compared to four years in the US. And generally a master's degree, if you go on to master's study, takes a year rather than typically two years in most other systems. So that represents time efficiency for you. It means you can get into the workforce faster. And it also means for your parents or anybody paying for these courses, value for money because you get a high quality education more rapidly and at less expense. So that all makes sense.

Reason No. 4, the UK is incredibly international. One of the strengths of our system in the UK is the internationalization of it. We have, after Australia, the system which has the highest proportion of international students on campus. So roughly 25% of our student body is international and a very significant number of students from China are part of that story. In fact, China is in many ways an indispensable partner for the UK. When you look at our student body, our international student body, students from China represent 23% of international students on campus. That may sound a lot, but it's actually far less than it was five years ago. In 2019, students from China represented 40% of all international students on campus. China's share has come down not because there are fewer Chinese students going to the UK. Roughly the same number is going every year, 160,000 or so. But because students from other countries are going in far greater numbers, particularly from India.

So those are some good reasons to think about going to university in the UK. But the last reason, No. 5, is because of the work opportunities after you graduate. The UK has a very generous post - study work offer for international students. We have something called the Graduate Route, which enables you to look for work or work at any skill level, at any salary level for two years after you graduate. Now, during that two - year period, you have a chance to find a job with an employer. He pays you enough to enable you to apply for a more permanent work permit, which is for the skilled worker permit, which lasts for 5 years and is itself renewable. So for those of you who are interested in pursuing opportunities in the UK or European economy, remember the UK is on the edge of the European Union. That graduate route gives you a chance to do so.

Those five reasons I think are pretty compelling as to why you should consider the UK as an option after you finish your high school studies. The UK is a wonderful place. We have globally famous cities that are well known not just for their football teams, but for their art and culture and general fun environment. London, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Leeds, Birmingham, Bristol. I can go on and on. These are great cities to live in and to study in and eventually to work in. So that's enough for me, I think. You know, enjoy the rest of your studies and remember that you have a warm welcome if you choose to come to the UK.