Scotch College Adelaide to establish school in Vietnam to teach SACE

Taking a bold step from Adelaide’s foothills, Scotch College will plant a stake in Vietnam, in a move designed to help keep fees down at home.

Scotch College will establish a school overseas in a move aimed at keeping fees down for its Adelaide students.

The high-fee private school has licensed its brand to a Vietnamese-based international education organisation, Bella Education Joint Stock Company.

The partnership will open Scotch College Australian Grammar School in Ho Chi Minh City in July.

The first stage will offer years 10-12, with plans to build a second campus for children up to year 9 next year.

Scotch is also partnering with the international education arm of the SACE Board for the project, under which senior students will study SA Certificate of Education subjects.

Artist's impression of the planned Scotch College Australian Grammar School to be established in Ho Chi Minh City by Scotch College Adelaide.

Over the past decade, the school has restricted fee hikes to inflation rises and is this year charging $28,040 for year 12 students at its Torrens Park campus, up 2.5 per cent from 2021.

Principal John Newton said the college wanted to provide its Adelaide students a high quality, ambitious educational program while minimising fee rises for parents.

“However, if we’re going to be ambitious we need future resources to make this school fly,” he said.

Dr Newton said the college had explored whether it could “use some of the excellence in intellectual property we have, to monetise it and make it work for the long-term benefit of the college”, resulting in the Vietnam venture.

How the planned Scotch College Australian Grammar School in Ho Chi Minh City could look.

Scotch has registered a subsidiary commercial company, Scotch International Education, to pursue overseas opportunities.

“As leaders in wellbeing and curriculum innovation, we are proud to enhance our global standing in education,” Dr Newton said.

“At the same time, the lived experience on our Adelaide campuses will not change and remains our absolute focus, to ensure our young people have a wonderful experience here.”

The value of the Vietnam deal is confidential but Scotch is confident it will be significant and ongoing and pave the way for further partnerships.

In Adelaide, construction is well advanced at Scotch’s $27m wellbeing and sports centre which it aims to open before the end of the year.

Scotch principal John Newton

Scotch International Education operations director Kelly Sharp

Dr Kelly Sharp has been appointed operations director of its new subsidiary company and will spend time in Vietnam establishing the new school with Bella Education.

“We will build relationships, share our ethos and high standards of education and wellbeing, and exclusively deliver the SACE through our partnership in Vietnam,” Dr Sharp said.

The school will use a mix of expatriate and local teachers.

“Our partner has aspirations for multiple schools across Vietnam,” Dr Sharp said.

“We are also in discussions with other potential partners around South East Asia who share our ethos. (But) we are being a little bit picky about who we work with.”

SACE Board chief executive Martin Westwell welcomed the Scotch initiative.

He was confident the SACE would “unlock every student’s potential”.

Through direct partnerships with SACE Board, the SACE curriculum is already offered in about 30 schools across China, Malaysia, Vanuatu and Sri Lanka. The board made $1.2m from this in 2020.