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September 16, 2008
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| As an increasing amount of money is spent on private education every year by Koreans, foreign capital is being poured into hagwon, local private cram schools. Canada Public International School, or CPIS, an institute specializing in English education for pre-schoolers and elementary school students, was established by Surrey School District of Vancouver, Canada. The CPIS provides English and Chinese language lessons. The CPIS is not authorized as a school under Korean laws, but once students complete given courses, they are eligible to receive diplomas from Canada, according to officials of the CPIS. St. Paul High School, a prestigious American private school, also launched a branch in Bundang, south of Seoul. The school’s Korean branch offers the same curriculum as its U.S. school in St. Paul, Minnesota. Some classes are led by teachers who are dispatched to Korea from the U.S. The school also provides two specialized courses for Korean students who want to go to elite high schools that require higher grades or who want to take an examination of General Education Development or GED. Canada’s Maple Bear and Victoria International School also plan to open their institutes in Jukjeon in Gyeonggi and Daechi-dong in southern Seoul, respectively. Global financial firms are also investing in the Korean private education business. AIG Group invested about 60 billion won ($54.3 million) in Avalon English in July. With the funding, Avalon plans to jump into the franchise business; its shares will be listed on the Kosdaq next September. Hwakin English has attracted investment from Japan-based SoftBank Ventures. U.S. Carlyle Fund invested 18 billion won in Topia Academy. Time Holdings, a local cram school, was launched by five prestigious cram schools located in Seoul last July after the company received 60 billion won from U.S.-based private equity fund T-Stone. Local financial institutions are also considering investing in cram schools but say they are hesitant to put their money in those institutions because their investment would come under fire for fueling the private education craze here. By Lee Chul-jae JoongAng Ilbo [so@joongang.co.kr] |
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