Foreign Investment Opportunities in Tianjin’s Growing Education Industry

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Foreign Investment Opportunities in Tianjin’s Growing Education Industry

Tianjin is expected to be the fastest-growing city in China, according to Oxford Economics’ report. In 2014, Tianjin’s GDP reached RMB 1.57 trillion (US$250 billion), up 10 percent from the previous year and significantly outpacing the 7.4 percent national increase. The service sector contributed approximately 50 percent to the city’s GDP last year, and Tianjin’s education services sector is fast becoming a driving force for foreign investment in the city.Tianjin international school

Market Size and Future Trends

According to a report released by the Tianjin Municipal Education Commission, over 15,000 international students had studied in Tianjin by the end of 2010 – the third most in China. A total number of 62 Sino-foreign cooperative educational institutions/programs have been established in the city. The city has eight major international schools including Wellington College International Tianjin. It is expected that, by the end of 2015, the number of international students in Tianjin will exceed 25,000. Today, many well-known universities in Tianjin, such as Nankai University and Tianjin University, offer education programs for international students.
Investment Opportunities

China officially implemented a new FTZ in Tianjin in April this year, aiming at further opening up its service sector. Interestingly, the restrictions on the education industry have been lifted, specifically:

Foreign entities are encouraged to set up non-academic vocational training institutions.
Foreign entities are allowed to set up international schools that enroll international students.
Foreign entities may establish and operate educational institutions that mainly enroll Chinese nationals in cooperation with a Chinese party, under the following conditions:
Education must be unrelated to the military, law enforcement, politics or political parties;
Foreign entities may not provide religious education; and
Regular high schools, tertiary education institutions and pre-schools must be led by the Chinese party, meaning that the principal or main administrator must be a Chinese national and be domiciled in China; the board of the school must have a Chinese majority and the education program must be in line with Chinese law.
Foreign entities are free to invest in intermediary service institutions for self-financed foreign study, as well as international education consultancies.