The Elite Schools Tour led by the Shanghai-based consultancy British Education (BE) visited China from October 28 to 31 to interview applicants for Britain's leading boarding schools.

The tour gave the schools an unprecedented opportunity to meet with top candidates from the Chinese mainland in person. The face-to-face interviews required by the schools for admission typically present a logistical hurdle for Chinese students.

Participating schools included Eton College in Windsor, renowned for producing British statesmen, Charterhouse School, Brighton College, Roedean, and Oxford International College.

File photo of Brighton College

Luxury department store Harrods and British law firm Gherson sponsored the tour, which visited both Beijing and Shanghai and included a black tie dinner for tour participants in each city.

Given its familiarity with Britain's top boarding schools, BE supervised the recruitment and assessment of applicants during the tour. Placement is free of charge as BE works on behalf of British schools to recruit exceptional students.

William Vanbergen, Co-founder and Managing Director of BE, said that BE and the schools were impressed with the Chinese applicants' academic prowess and enthusiasm. Britain's top boarding schools offer them unique opportunities for personal growth, he added.

"What they're going halfway around the world for is not just academic excellence, but all the extracurricular activities – the sports, the arts, and the confidence that teamwork builds," he said.

David Wei, Chief Executive Officer of Alibaba.com, who attended the tour's Shanghai dinner with his family, agreed.

"I think the British education system provides for an excellent balance of individualism and teamwork, academic work and extracurricular activities," he said.

Wei knows British education and corporate culture well, having graduated from the corporate finance program at the London Business School and worked previously in London for Coopers & Lybrand, now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers.

File photo of Eton College

Yet the majority of Chinese parents attending the tour were less familiar with British education and culture. For this reason, BE hosted a series of seminars during the Elite Schools Tour covering the schools' curricula, students' personal experiences in Britain and how to select a school.

Leaders from the participating schools were present to answer parents' questions.

Frances King, Headmistress of Roedean, emphasized the importance of pastoral care – ensuring students are properly settled and looked after on arrival.

"In the UK, we have house systems in place that ensure the students are being looked after within a smaller community in the school," she said. "For parents who are overseas, that's reassuring."

BE has been providing educational consulting services to Chinese students aged 7 to 18 since 2003. In China it manages domestic schools, such as Qingdao Oxford International College in Shandong province, and educational publications like the The Schools Guide series. It also runs summer school programs for Eton and Charterhouse.

With the success of this year's Elite Schools Tour, BE is planning to make the tour an annual fall event in China.