BC’s Offshore Schools: Private Entities Profit, Benefit for Province Unclear
For more than two decades, students around the globe have been learning British Columbia’s education curriculum in private-owned, offshore schools to receive BC graduation certificates – also known as Dogwood Diplomas.
Managed by the province’s Ministry of Education and Child Care, the BC Offshore School Program is an initiative few British Columbians are aware of.
Nestled within the relatively unknown topic sits a wide array of complexities, including geopolitics, government oversight, propaganda, entrepreneurship, and more.
The most difficult aspect to measure is how the program benefits the province funding it.
The program's purpose, as broadly stated by the ministry, is to enable students to study BC’s curriculum within their own country and, as an anticipated result, “become global citizens.”
More specifically, albeit still relatively vague, the seldom-examined program’s operating manual lists five goals:
Enable strategic relationships and build economic connections with global markets by delivering English language education to students around the world.
Increase global recognition of BC’s high-quality education brand.
Provide students with the tools to be successful in life, professionally and personally, and to be leaders in their communities and global citizens.
Create opportunities for BC offshore schools to develop international partnerships.
Attract more international students to study, work, and live in BC.
The first BC-certified offshore school opened in 1998 in Dalian, China, under the School Act. Currently, there are 32 certified BC offshore schools in eight countries, 22 of which are in China.
How to Open a BC Offshore School
If one plans to open a BC offshore school, five steps must be followed.
First, fill out an “Expression of Interest” form. If approved, the hopeful operator will be invited to an interview with ministry representatives who will then determine whether or not the operator has the ability to successfully operate an offshore school.
Next comes the application stage. This includes the submission of a business plan, audited financial statements, budget forecasts, and local government approvals.
Now for the inspection. If passed, the offshore school will be pre-certified, meaning it can begin offering the BC curriculum for one year until a ministry-appointed team performs another inspection, known as the “certification inspection.”
Three pre-certified offshore schools are currently operating in Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, and Taiwan.
Following the certification inspection, the ministry decides whether or not to certify the school. Operators who want to stay certified must remain in good standing with the ministry, pass inspections, and pay annual fees. They’re also required to reimburse the ministry for all inspection costs.
Business and Financial Information 'Insufficient,' says Auditor
Three years ago, the Auditor General of BC sought to determine whether the ministry provides effective oversight of offshore schools.
During the period of the audit, there were 45 offshore schools with 11,650 students. As previously mentioned, the number of certified offshore schools is now 32 – possibly a result of the ministry widening its oversight after the audit.
While the audit concluded the ministry’s oversight is indeed effective, it did highlight “limitations” in certification requirements related to obtaining business and financial information that could – by the auditor’s analysis – impact the operator’s ability to deliver BC education programs over the long term, consistent with the ministry’s goals and expectations.
Source: Province of BC
“We found that the business and financial information required from offshore school operators is not sufficient for the ministry to assess the financial sustainability of schools or to understand local laws and licensing requirements relevant to each offshore school,” the report says.
“Although applicant offshore school operators are required to provide the ministry with annual business plans, audited financial statements, and some financial forecasts, we found these were not sufficient for the ministry to assess whether applicant school operators were in a position to sustainably deliver BC education programs in the competitive international education environment.”
The audit further highlights that operators are not required to provide the ministry with detailed information regarding local regulatory processes, noting concerns about building safety and criminal record checks, which are unique to each foreign jurisdiction.
Simply put: necessary evidence to demonstrate compliance with ministry safety requirements may not be provided, but the school may continue to operate nonetheless.
Chengdu School, Chengdu, Sichuan Province.
The audit also observed that suggestions for improvement following school inspections were not tracked and followed up. Moreover, the report says the monitoring process has become “administratively onerous” as a result of growth, which reduced ministry time available for “critical review in areas of concern.”
Coastal Front asked the ministry what changes – if any – were made to the program following the audit, but no answer was provided.
Possible Curriculum Redaction
While the ministry says BC’s curriculum is being fully implemented at all BC offshore schools, and that schools meet learning standards set by the ministry for each course, one offshore school representative said that Taiwan – as a separate country from China – is not permitted to be displayed on maps at a school they formerly worked at.
The individual taught at a school operated by Maple Leaf Educational Systems Limited.
“We have three foreign national schools in China that provide the BC curriculum to students in Grades 1 to 9. Our school can deliver the full BC curriculum except for one item,” the former employee told Coastal Front.
“International schools are not permitted to show maps or indicate that Taiwan is a separate country from mainland China.”
The directive to not use a textbook showing Taiwan as its own country supposedly came from the local education bureau.
“Otherwise we had no issue from the local authorities teaching the BC curriculum,” the representative said.
If Maple Leaf provides false or misleading information regarding the implementation of the full BC curriculum at any of its offshore schools, the ministry – as per the program’s operating manual – may terminate its agreement with the operators.
When asked about the claimed redactions, the ministry told Coastal Front that its annual offshore school inspections “verify curricular compliance.” It did not provide further comment on the matter.
Another former BC offshore school teacher who worked at Maple Leaf Dalian International School in China shared a similar anecdote.
“We were told at the time not to enter into discussion about Taiwan, Tibet, or Hong Kong,” Abbotsford’s Jim Williams told Coastal Front.
Williams – who’s gone back to teaching English in BC – said the instruction came from the school’s administration, not government authorities.
“I was talking to kids after class one time and I said, ‘Tibet hasn’t always been a part of China, you know,’ to which they replied, ‘No, our boundaries right now have always been China’s boundaries,’” Williams explained.
The English teacher highlighted, however, that he was able to teach books such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm without any issues.
“A kid came up to me and said, ‘This novel is about China,’” said Williams.
“So they were exposed to literature, and the ideas within the literature, which helped them to expand their world.”
Overall, Williams said he thought the offshore school system was “a pretty good thing” during his involvement.
Sino-Canada School, Wujiang City, Jiangsu Province.
When Maple Leaf’s Dalian school first received its accreditation in 1998, James William Beeke was the BC inspector of independent schools. As inspector, he was responsible for the inspection, certification, and funding of all independent schools in the province. Further, Beeke developed and directed the BC Offshore School Certification Program.
Seven years later, in 2005, Beeke took up a job with Maple Leaf and moved to China. He’s now the Executive Director and Superintendent of Global Education at the company.
Coastal Front reached out to Beeke with an interview request.
“Thanks for your invitation, but I am not interested," Beeke told Coastal Front, redirecting the inquiry to the BC Director of International Education, Alan Schroeder, who could not be reached.
Upon further probing, Beeke said it “would be awkward and inappropriate” for him to comment on BC’s offshore schools, even though he helped develop the offshore school program.
The reasoning behind Beeke’s comment, or lack thereof, is due to Maple Leaf high schools no longer offering the BC Dogwood Diploma. More on that shortly.
BC Attraction and Return on Investment
As previously mentioned, one of the ministry’s five goals for the program is to attract more international students to study, work, and live in BC.
Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, there have been 14,347 BC offshore school graduates. That’s an average of 2,869 per year.
Less than 10% of the graduates have transitioned to a BC post-secondary institution.
Since the graduation of the first cohort of BC offshore students in 2001-02, 15% of all offshore graduates have transitioned to BC public post-secondary institutions, according to the ministry, which told Coastal Front it does not track the permanent resident or citizen status of graduates.
The program – operated by privately incorporated companies, not government entities – runs on a cost-recovery basis and is not intended to generate revenue for the province. Over the last five years, program recoveries have averaged $4.97 million annually, as per the ministry.
For the year of 2021-22 the total cost recovery for the program was $3.1 million. The ministry said one reason for the change in amount was due to the cost of inspections, which were strictly virtual at every school during the aforementioned timeframe.
Tuition Costs
For Maple Leaf to have been a publicly traded company, it would have required a method to maintain and increase revenue along with profits. The schools do so through tuition costs.
The school in Yiwu boasts the lowest total annual tuition cost at roughly $13,000 for Grades 1 through 6, and $14,000 for Grades 7 through 9.
The aforementioned fees include tuition and dormitory fees for two semesters. School uniforms, laptops, outdoor activities, homeroom fees, etc., are charged additionally.
For comparison, the prices are highly competitive with some of the most prestigious private high schools in BC.
“Offshore schools, when they first started, didn’t charge much for tuition. Over the years it’s become more and more expensive – catering to the middle to well-off families,” said Dr Fei Wang, Associate Professor at UBC.
Wang is currently editing a book on Canadian offshore schools, diving into the curriculum, delivery, experience of students and teachers, and more. He expects it to be released soon.
Speaking to Coastal Front, Wang said challenges plague almost every aspect of Canadian offshore schools – including operation, leadership, curriculum, and budget.
“There’s challenges in almost every area,” he said.
“They run like corporations, and they keep expanding. It’s all about money.”
Touching on Maple Leaf, Wang said the attraction of a Dogwood Diploma has been the company’s pivotal selling point. However, Maple Leaf announced it would stop offering its BC Dogwood Diploma accreditation in 2022, choosing to only offer the BC curriculum up to Grade 9.
As for its high schools, which are now entirely disconnected from BC, Maple Leaf offers its own Grade 10-12 curriculum. This is called the Maple Leaf World School Curriculum.
Why the company killed what appeared to be its main cash cow sparked Wang’s curiosity, prompting him to reach out to Maple Leaf, but his inquiry fell on deaf ears.
“Maybe you’ll have better luck,” he said.
China Chengdu Shishi Middle School, Sichuan Province.
A Maple Leaf representative told Coastal Front the reason for the curriculum change is due to geopolitical tensions rising between Canada and China in recent years. He specifically mentioned the case of Meng Wanzhou and “the two Michaels.”
The reasoning is of little surprise when considering the increasingly hostile, cold war-esque language used by Canadian officials toward China.
The representative cited the same reasoning when asked why inspections for BC Offshore Schools remain virtual in China.
During the COVID-19 era, inspections were conducted virtually at all BC Offshore Schools around the globe. Now, on-site inspections have resumed in every country except China – presumably due to geopolitical hostility.
Lack of Transparency
Digging into the relatively unknown topic of BC’s offshore schools is, in many ways, like pushing water uphill.
Conflicting statements regarding international relations, propaganda, entrepreneurship, government oversight, transparency, and more are among the wide range of complexities nestled within the venture.
The most difficult aspect to quantify is how the program benefits British Columbians.
While the ministry provides long-winded, flowery anecdotes as to how the program serves BC, it has not provided receipts to substantiate its claims. Moreover, the ministry says it does not measure whether it's achieved one of its central goals.
As previously detailed, one of the key goals is to attract more international students to study, work, and live in BC.
The ministry, by its admission, does not track the permanent resident or citizen status of graduates.
As for the ministry’s claim that 15% of all offshore graduates transitioned to BC public post-secondary institutions, it says it tracks the number through each student’s Personal Education Number.
While the ministry says the $3.1 million for the year 2021-22 was fully recovered, it did not provide a breakdown of its expenses.
Despite the province owning all of the intellectual property rights for BC's curriculum, including its use at offshore schools, it does not attempt to make a profit from the initiative, which generates tens of millions annually for the operators.
Further, Coastal Front has exhausted a multitude of avenues in an attempt to receive comment from Minister of Education and Child Care Rachna Singh, but one has not yet been provided.
Looking beyond the ministry’s opacity regarding how the program helps the people funding it, at least one thing is exceedingly clear: the program benefits private entities who cash in on the province’s reputation.
