As an international school with more than 150 years of experience providing education and training for students of all ages, from pre-school to secondary school, Concordia International School has many educational institutions worldwide and is voted as one of 10 best quality international schools.
After operating in Hanoi two years, Concordia School has become increasingly attractive to many families looking for a brighter future for their children. To learn more about this school, the Vietnam Business Forum interviewed Mr Steven Winkelman, Head of School. Doan Tien reports.
Could you please give us overview about Concordia International School and talk about why it came to Vietnam?
Concordia International School Hanoi was founded in 2010 with the idea that the booming economy of Vietnam, with its attraction for foreign investors and international companies was in dire need of quality international educational institution. Previously, other international schools were at full capacity and turning away students, which led to high-level managers not relocating their family to Vietnam. Concordia Hanoi was meant to not only serve the expatriate families that would live and work in Hanoi, but also the growing number of Vietnamese families looking for an international education and have their children matriculate to overseas universities of their choice.
Please tell us about what can be confirmed as the achievements of Concordia International School in Vietnam up to now, can they be regarded as a contribution to the innovation of Vietnam’s present education and training?
Community is one of Concordia’s key values and this is something that the school put a great deal of effort in working towards. To date, the administration at Concordia has successfully brought other schools in Hanoi, both international and local, together to collaborate on many levels.
Concordia’s Athletic Director, Patrick Frerking, in conjunction with other area athletic directors has developed Hanoi’s “All Schools Sports League” with the goal to compete in the areas of basketball, volleyball, football/soccer and many other sports. The IT departments of the different schools, led by Concordia Director of IT, David Elliott, meet on a tri-monthly basis to discuss how technology can be integrated into the classroom and serve as a learning tool for our 21st century students. Teachers and administrators have led training programs for teachers in both local and international school in Vietnam. Even the school counselors at Concordia have met with other schools to discuss how, as a group, we can meet the social and emotional needs of the students throughout the city.
Can you explain more about the differences of Concordia International School’s training programme compared with that of other schools currently operating in Vietnam?
Concordia as an institution is unique in that it is part of family of schools- Concordia International School Shanghai and Hong Kong International School- both of which have been ranked in the top 10 best international schools in the world. Over 90 percent of the educational faculty at Concordia holds a Masters Degree or higher and amongst those educators, the average teaching experience is 18 years. Couple that expertise with the small class sizes and Concordia packs a powerful educational punch.
Could you tell us about Concordia International School’s plan for the coming time?
Concordia plans to build a purpose-built campus in the Van Tri area of Hanoi. This would connect the new Concordia campus with the West Lake community.
Construction of the new site is expected to start soon, looking at relocation to the new campus expected for sometime in the 2014-2015 school year.
In the short term, the opening of Concordia’s high school next year will give residents of Hanoi accessibility to a quality international secondary education that leads to matriculation to overseas universities, including those in Australia.
Vietnamese
