The Competition Heats Up for the Attraction of the UK's Top Prestigious School

On the 27th of last month, representatives from King's College School in the UK, including BIEK's representative Henry 〈center〉, and Joseph Choi, the representative of the Korean branch, along with Yeongjong residents including Park Soo-hyun and Kim Jin-mi, co-representatives of the Yeongjong Parents Alliance, hosted a public meeting for the attraction of Yeongjong International School and took a commemorative photo.

[Herald Economy (Incheon)=Reporter Lee Hong-seok] Interest among national local governments to attract King's College School, the UK's top-tier prestigious school, as an international school, is growing.

2024.01.02 00:06

http://news.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=20231230000116

Yeongjong community interest in attracting King's spreads... Signature campaign underway The longer Yeongjong's bid is delayed, the more likely it is to relocate to another region Numerous local governments, including Gyeonggi Province, intensify efforts to attract King's Incheon Economic Free Zone Authority pauses developer selection tender due to high public interest in King's.

The local government that King's College School (hereafter King's) has directly expressed its intention to establish is Incheon (Yeongjong International City), and it is currently in the most advantageous position, while other local governments, including Gyeonggi Province, are also focusing their attention on attracting King's.

In this context, representatives from King's in the UK, who are currently visiting Korea, are meeting with practitioners related to international school attraction and discussing after visiting Incheon and other regions like Gyeonggi Province to understand the local conditions for establishing an international school.

As of the end of last month, two members of the group, starting with Henry, CEO of BIEK, the agent for the establishment of King's College School in the UK, have visited Korea.

These members have visited major local governments, including Yeongjong in Incheon and the metropolitan area that expects to host Kings, to determine the local situation to see whether conditions exist to attract and establish an international school.

In addition to Yeongjong, Incheon, there are a number of local governments in which Kings are currently interested and have begun location research, including Uijeongbu, Namyangju, and Goyang in Gyeonggi Province. This is because, under current law, international schools can be established in free economic zones or on land donated before US military bases.

Yeongjong, Incheon, was the first area where King's announced its intention to establish an international school in Korea following a decision by the British school's board of directors three years ago. Accordingly, the Incheon Economic Office is currently promoting the attraction of international schools within Yeongjong Golden Terra City (formerly Midan City).

The Incheon Economic Office began holding business information sessions in earnest to attract Yeongjong International School last June, but decided to use a contest method to select private developers rather than attracting international schools.

Contrary to the demands of Yeongjong residents, who had been insisting that a prestigious school be selected to establish an international school on three lots of existing school land, one lot out of three lots was split into commercial land and development profits were used to generate development profits to build the remaining two lots. The public offering process is currently halted due to differences of opinion with the Incheon Economic Office, which maintains the method of selecting developers to build schools.

Recently, Yeongjong residents held a 'Resident Information Session for Attracting Yeongjong International School' on the 27th of last month, hosted by Yeongjong Parents' Solidarity, regardless of the Incheon Economic Office's push for a public contest based on the developer selection method that is reducing the number of school sites.

The organizers first confirmed that the main school of King's UK had expressed its intention to establish the school to Incheon City, the Incheon Economic Office, and the Incheon Urban Development Corporation (owner of the school site), and confirmed with King's officials, including Henry, CEO of BIEK headquarters, acting authority for the establishment of King's International School in England, and Joseph Choi, representative of the Korean Embassy. They were invited to confirm the general details of the proposal to establish Yeongjong International School.

The organizers said that among the schools that have been interested in Yeongjong, King's was the only one that proposed establishing an international school on all three parcels of the existing school site. Of these, King's is the most renowned as a top-level prestigious school, ranked first in the UK and fifth in the world in IB education. Because we judged it to be high, we first invited Kings and explained the reason for holding a resident information session.

As a result of a survey conducted by the Incheon Economic Office at the end of August last year, there were two schools, including King's, that submitted opinions that they would like to establish a school-led establishment on 2 to 3 lots, and another 3 schools preferred a developer-led method on 2 lots. I have submitted my opinion.

In particular, after the resident briefing session for attracting an international school, residents are collecting signatures to attract Yeongjong International School to three lots of existing school sites.

Yeongjong residents plan to directly deliver resident signatures expressing their desire to host an international school to Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok, who promised in an agreement to host a prestigious international school in Yeongjong in May 2022, urging him to make a decision on hosting the school as soon as possible.

In the case of other local governments, a candidate for general election in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi-do is contacting King's International School, and Goyang City, which is awaiting the government's decision on designation as a free economic zone, is also showing interest in King's as it announced plans to attract three international schools. It was known.

In addition, a number of local governments, including Namyangju, which hopes to host international schools following the relocation of US military bases, are also said to be taking quick steps to attract Kings.

Representative Henry, who is understanding the local situation in various local governments to establish an international school, said, “There may be various reasons from the Incheon Economic Office, but the King's main school in England could not wait any longer, so they were considering relocating to another region, and Yeongjong residents were enthusiastic about attracting King’s. “As high as it is, we are working hard,” he said.

At the same time, he said, “Kings’ proposals, such as the intention to establish and the master plan for Yeongjong International School through a meeting with the Incheon Economic Office, have already been delivered, so the waiting situation is not so relaxed due to the active attraction proposals from other local governments.” “A decision is needed from Incheon City and the Incheon Economic Office in the near future,” he said.

Josep Choi, head of the Korean mission, said, “As an agent entrusted with the authority to establish a branch in Korea from the main school of King’s in England, I feel very regretful that some media outlets recently reported incorrectly by mistaking King’s officials who expressed their intention to establish a branch in the Incheon Economic Office, etc., as brokers (developer). “He said, “It is a complicated situation due to the delay in hosting King’s in Yeongjong, but I definitely want to establish an international school and co-exist with local residents to drive the development of the local community.”

Meanwhile, some in Yeongjong say that due to the lax judgment of Incheon City and the Incheon Economic Office, if Kings, which prefers to host Yeongjong, is missed and relocated to another local government, Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok and the Incheon Economic Office, who make the decision to host the international school, can avoid criticism from the local community. Public opinion is also cautiously predicting that the situation where there is no such thing will increase significantly.