Parents, schools instilling global outlook

A younger generation of parents, who are well-educated and with global perspectives, are fueling the insatiable appetite for quality international education in China, according to a senior industry executive.

"Chinese parents are obsessed about education, something that is based in the culture," said Jeff Zhu, vice-president of Shanghai-based Dipont Education Management Group. "It has always been perceived as the main, if not the only, ladder, for the elevation of social status."

But he noted how a more cosmopolitan parent group are shifting from "learn English" to "learn in English", because they aspire for their children to one day participate in world affairs as future world leaders.