Shenzhen College of International Education

Coordinates: 22°32′47″N 114°00′28″E / 22.54639°N 114.00778°E / 22.54639; 114.00778

Shenzhen College of International Education
Address
Antuoshan 6th Street, Futian District Shenzhen , Guangdong , 518043 China
Coordinates	22°32'47.0"N 114°00'28.0"E
Information
Type	Private International College
Motto	Sincerity, Compassion, Industry, Enthusiasm.
Founded	2003
Principal	Neil Mobsby
Faculty	146
Number of students	1314
Student to teacher ratio	9:1
Colour(s)	SCIE brown
Website	scie.com.cn

Shenzhen College of International Education (Chinese: 深圳国际交流学院, abbreviated: Chinese: 深国交), more widely known by its acronym SCIE, is an international high school situated by the Antuo hill, in Futian District, Shenzhen, China. The school offers a four-year high-school program, adopting mainly Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) IGCSE and GCE A-level curriculums, and are taught mostly in English.

According to a 2020 ranking of Chinese international high schools, SCIE ranked 1st in mainland China in terms of competitiveness in UK undergraduate applications, and 10th for US undergraduate applications.^[1] SCIE is exceptionally well known for its excellent G5 Universities application achievements, most prominently, Oxbridge (Oxford and Cambridge) applications.

In 2020, receiving 31 Oxbridge offers, SCIE breaks its own record from the previous year of having the most Oxbridge offers in China. Up to this day, SCIE has received 202 Oxbridge offers.^[2]

Foundation[]

The Shenzhen College of International Education was founded in 2003 through the approval of the Shenzhen Educational department, and it became the first full-time Chinese international college authorized by the Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE).^[3]

Academic achievements[]

UK undergraduate applications[]

According to statistics published on the SCIE website (2017-2021)^[4] and data published elsewhere (2005-2017),^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]} a table of the numbers of SCIE G5 offers is given in the following:

US undergraduate applications[]

In recent years, SCIE students have received offers from well-known top US universities such as Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, University of Chicago, University of Pennsylvania, et cetera.

Hong Kong SAR undergraduate applications[]

International examinations[]

Furthermore, SCIE students have excelled in international examinations, especially IGCSE and A-Level examinations. Throughout the course of 16 years, SCIE has received 103 Top in the World awards and 162 Top in the Country awards.^[12]

Campus[]

A picture of the old SCIE campus, situated at Shuiwei.

Before Summer 2020, the SCIE campus was at Shuiwei, a small area immediately to the north of the Huanggang Port between Shenzhen (mainland China) and Hong Kong SAR. This was commonly referred to as the Shuiwei campus (old campus). In August 2020, the students and faculty of SCIE have moved into the new campus, which is the current campus, sitting by Antuo Hill, or alternatively, Antuoshan (Chinese: 安托山). The closest metro station to the Antuoshan campus is the Antuo Hill station. The east gate of the school can be reached by taking the B exit from the metro station, turning right at the first traffic crossing, and walking a short distance.

Teaching space[]

A picture of one of the teaching buildings in SCIE new campus (Antuoshan)

The campus has approximately 80 classrooms dedicated to humanities, STEM subjects, languages, commerce and finance, and computer science subjects, 30 laboratories for chemistry, physics, and biology subjects, alongside experimental equipment preparation rooms. Every department is equipped with offices larger than 120 square meters and individual head-of-department offices. There are furthermore numerous tutorial rooms for various purposes.

Student dormitories[]

The campus is equipped with nearly 500 student dormitories, each room with 2 or 4 beds, personal desks and wardrobes, individual hot showers, bathrooms and washing machines. Each floor also has a shared common room, with entertainment facilities. Each floor of student dormitories is assigned to 2 residential assistants.

Staff apartments[]

The school has a staff apartment building, meeting the accommodation needs of more than 100 foreign teachers, with staff lounges and public gardens on the roof.

Catering[]

The campus has a total of 1500 square meters of dining hall and restaurant to allow up to 700 students to dine simultaneously. The dining hall serves both Chinese food, noodles, or global cuisines.

At the same time, the campus has a café, serving drinks, desserts, snacks, and boxed meals.

Sports facilities[]

The outdoor basketball court in SCIE, between the two teaching buildings

The campus is equipped with:

• A 11-meter-high sunken gymnasium, containing 2 standard basketball courts, which could also be used for badminton and tennis
• An outdoor standard volleyball court
• An outdoor basketball court
• A 5-a-side football field
• Student Gym
• Outdoor fitness area including ping-pong tables
• Faculty Gym (with shower room and dressing room)
• A 500-meter-long overhead runway surrounding the campus building

Humanities facilities[]

The campus has the following facilities for humanities and arts:

• A professional theatre/auditorium with a seating capacity of 750 people
• A 300 meter-squared lecture room
• Art classrooms
• Music classrooms
• A dance studio
• A drama classroom
• Musical instrument practice rooms (some equipped with pianos)
• An art gallery

Library[]

The school library is situated at one of the overhanging bridges connecting the two teaching buildings. It consists of two floors, holding a large quantity of books, magazines, newspapers, and textbooks. Using the printers in the library, students can print, scan or copy files.

Counselling and medical assistance[]

A psychological counselling room is present on campus. Students and parents can make appointments with professional psychological counsellors. There are also medical rooms and physical examination rooms for teachers and students.

Other facilities and public space[]

• 180 square meters of admissions office reception area
• University and Career Office (UCO)
• Student Council Office
• Alumni Association Office
• 4000 square meters of outdoor garden
• Wetlands and "moats" surrounding the campus

Authorizations[]

SCIE is authorized by numerous examination boards and associations, which are listed in the following:

• Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) authorized examination center (center code: CN260)
• Pearson Edexcel authorized examination center (center code: 93884)
• College Board member school
• The Council of International Schools (CIS) member school
• Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA) member school
• East Asia Regional Council of Overseas Schools (EARCOS) member school

Course structure[]

SCIE offers a four-year course. The first two years are referred to as "G-Level", and the last two years are referred to as "A-Level", with reference to the IGCSE and Advanced Level (A-Level) courses, respectively. The four grades are hence: G1, G2, A1, and A2.

G-Level courses[]

All G-Level students admitted in 2021 into the class of 2025 have to take the following compulsory courses:

• Chinese
  • CAIE IGCSE Chinese as First Language (For Chinese students)
  • CAIE IGCSE Chinese as Second Language (For foreign students)
• G1 Mathematics course
  • CAIE IGCSE Mathematics
  • CAIE IGCSE Additional Mathematics
• G2 Mathematics course
  • CAIE AS Level Mathematics: Pure Mathematics 1 and 2 component
  • CAIE AS Level Mathematics: Mechanics 1 component
• CAIE IGCSE Chemistry
• Physical Education
• PSHE (Personal, Social, and Health Education)

Aside from that, all G1 students have to take Pearson Edexcel IGCSE English as First Language. G2 students take either Pearson Edexcel IGCSE or GCSE English as First language, according to their English-using abilities.

It is compulsory for the students to choose from one of the following as their second IGCSE science subject:

• CAIE IGCSE Physics
• CAIE IGCSE Biology

On top of those, the students should choose 3 subjects fromn the list of optional courses:

• CAIE IGCSE History
• CAIE IGCSE Geography
• CAIE IGCSE Global Vision
• CAIE IGCSE Economics
• CAIE IGCSE Business
• CAIE IGCSE Computer Science
• CAIE IGCSE Art and Design
• CAIE IGCSE Music
• CAIE IGCSE Physical Education
• Pearson Edexcel GCSE Drama
• CAIE IGCSE Spanish as Second Language
• Pearson Edexcel Japanese as Second Language
• CAIE IGCSE French as Second Language
• Pearson Edexcel IGCSE English Literature
• The other science subject from either CAIE IGCSE Physics or Biology

A-Level courses[]

All A-Level students have to take the following 2 courses:

• Physical Education
• PSHE (Personal, Social, and Health Education)

For English courses, students entering the A1 year if they have been enrolled into SCIE as G-Level students are given the following choices for English courses in A1:

• Pearson Edexcel IGCSE English Literature (if they have not taken this course in the previous year)
• Pearson Edexcel GCSE English as First Language (if they have not taken this course in the previous year)
• CAIE AS Level English Language
• CAIE AS Level English Literature

Students enrolled into SCIE as new A1 students can only take Pearson Edexcel IGCSE English as First Language.

In their A2 year, they are given the following choices for their English courses:

• CAIE A-Level English Language
• CAIE A-Level English Literature
• Extended Project Qualification (EPQ)

Aside from those, A-Level students are required to choose 4-5 courses from the following offered courses:

• CAIE A-Level Mathematics: Pure Mathematics 3 and Probability & Statistics 1 components
• CAIE A-Level Further Mathematics
• CAIE A-Level Physics
• CAIE A-Level Chemistry
• CAIE A-Level Biology
• CAIE A-Level History
• CAIE A-Level Geography
• CAIE A-Level Computer Science
• CAIE A-Level Economics
• CAIE A-Level Accounting
• CAIE A-Level Psychology
• CAIE A-Level Sociology
• CAIE A-Level Art and Design
• Pearson Edexcel A-Level Drama
• CAIE A-Level Music
• CAIE A-Level Physical Education
• CAIE A-Level Spanish as Second Language
• Advanced Placement (AP) Statistics

The school has a special policy for the CAIE A-Level Further Mathematics course. At the end of the G2 year or the beginning of the A1 year, the students can sign up for a further mathematics aptitude test (whose questions are reported by students to be based on A-Level Mathematics and Sixth Term Examination Paper (STEP) questions). If they succeed in passing the aptitude test, they can be enrolled into a 2-year CAIE A-Level Further Mathematics class, in which the Further Pure Mathematics 1 and Further Mechanics components will be covered in the A1 year as the AS part, and the Further Pure Mathematics 2 and Further Probability & Statistics components will be covered in the A2 year as the A-Level part. Students who did not sign up for or did not pass the aptitude test can take further mathematics as either:

• CAIE AS Level Further Mathematics: Further Pure Mathematics 1 and Further Mechanics
• CAIE A-Level Further Mathematics: All 4 components (students taking this option will have twice as many periods assigned to further maths in a week compared to the above option)

in their A2 year.

Language[]

Since the foundation, the school executes a policy known as "The English Policy", which states that all academic staff and students in SCIE must use English as their prioritised language on campus. The international nature of the school also requires English to be the sole lingua franca. In light of this policy most lessons are taught in English (with the exception of P.E. and Chinese). As time moves forward students are more and more willing to abide by this policy, with regards to the nature of overseas studies' challenging language skills requirements. Because of the multilingual lessons' introduction in SCIE, Spanish, French and Japanese are also used.

SCIE students are known to have exceptional English language skills. In a 2018 report published by British Council, SCIE students have the highest average IELTS score (6.9) out of all international schools in mainland China.^[13]

Faculty[]

Currently, there are 146 teachers, including both Chinese and foreign teachers. With 1314 students, the faculty-student ratio is 1:9.

The "House" policy[]

The Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood house "flags"

Students from the Water house participating in the G2 camp in 2019

SCIE has a unique policy referred to as the "House" policy. Briefly, new students entering the school are allocated to one in four houses: Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood. The houses have their own characteristic colors, mascot animals, and slogans, which are listed in the following.

SCIE regularly holds house competitions on Wednesdays, in which students representing their houses compete against each other in a number of competitions, for instance, dodge ball, volleyball, basketball, puzzle, dormitory decoration, et cetera. The winning houses will have points awarded to the houses and will be counted at the end of each academic year to decide the rankings of houses.

Students from the same house live in the same area of the student dormitory.

Furthermore, in the past, SCIE holds an annual G1 camp (in 2019, a G2 camp was held because the G2 students at that time did not go to G1 camp in their G1 years due to the Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018), during which students go to a seaside area for camping. Competitive activities were held as students of the four houses compete against each other. The house winning the most scores is awarded a stuffed bear. Unfortunately, the G1 camp was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Through these activities and competitions, students at SCIE are encouraged to learn teamwork, make friends, and transmit the SCIE culture.

Extracurricular activities (ECA) and Clubs[]

In SCIE, there exist over 100 clubs, classified into 10 categories, taking place at after-school hours. Each club is supervised by a faculty advisor and run by either a faculty or 1-2 student ECA leaders.

Every semester, an ECA Fair is held, where all ECA club leaders are welcome to set up a small station, and students of the whole school can get to know the ECA clubs they are interested in.

Extracurricular academic achievements[]

SCIE students have always been active in numerous international competitions. Some of which are listed in the following:

A picture of the team members of the IGEM team GreatBay_SCIE participating in the virtual jamboree 2020 in Shenzhen, China

Admissions[]

A student can enter SCIE as:

• A G1 student having finished the 8th grade
• A G1 student having finished the 9th grade
• An A1 student having finished the 10th grade
• An A1 student having finished the 11th grade

SCIE reports that, for students entering the academic year 2021–2022, it admits 416 G1 students into the class of 2025 and 118 A1 students into the class of 2023.

All students are required to take an admissions test consisted of an English component and a Mathematics component, and an interview.

For students entering the academic year 2021–2022, two admissions tests will be held: One on April 11, and one on May 30. The paper-based tests are taken in the morning, and the admissions are arranged as the following. Non-local students will have interviews in the afternoon of the same day, while Shenzhen local students will have interviews on the Sunday of the following week.

Due to the highly selective admissions process, many private institutions offer preparation courses for the admissions test and interview of SCIE.

Tuition fees[]

For the academic year 2021–2022, the annual tuition fee is 238,000 RMB, including physical examination fees, insurance fees, and fees for extra-curricular fees, but not including international examination fees, and field trip fees.

See also[]

• Education in Shenzhen

References[]

External links[]

• SCIE official English website
• SCIE official Chinese website