North London Collegiate School Jeju, the first international private school in Jeju Global Education City, opened Friday.

“NLCS Jeju is the country’s first case where the 161-year-old prestigious private school in the U.K. will maintain its reputation and realize its time-honored educational philosophy and the knowhow in school systems in Jeju,” Byon Jong-il, president of Jeju Development Center, developer of the JGEC, told the school opening ceremony.

About 1,000 people attended the event at the school’s state-of-the-art building in Seogwipo. Among them were Kwon Do-youp, minister for land, transport and maritime affairs and Seol Dong-keun, first vice minister of education, and a delegation from the main campus in the U.K.

NLCS Jeju is the first foreign campus of the school, which is recognized as one of the best elite private schools in the U.K. NLCS is in the top 10 in terms of average admission rates for the U.K.’s leading universities.

“We will establish standards to become an outstanding school, share the philosophy of the U.K. campus, create the best place for students to do their best and demonstrate quality education and academic performance to satisfy both students and parents,” said Peter Daly, the school’s principal. 

A total of 436 students have been admitted to the school. They were selected from 1,229 students who applied for the school from pre-kindergarten to the 11th grade, which is equivalent to the first grade of high school in Korea. Korean students make up 98 percent of the total enrollment.

For the next couple of years, Korean students are expected to keep the lion’s share, but the school seeks to expand the portion of foreign students first by attracting Asian students from China, Japan, Taiwan and other neighboring countries, according to the school principal.

JDC also anticipates that international schools expected in Jeju will play an important role in bringing back Korean students from abroad or attracting Korean students who consider going abroad for study. To do so, the center and the provincial government have stepped up efforts to create the best environment for study on top of clean and safe living conditions on the resort island.

NLCS Jeju, built on a sprawling lot of more than 100,000 square meters, boasts cutting-edge facilities including study halls, music and art halls, sports centers with swimming pools and a gymnasium, and seven dormitories.

Students from the seventh grade up are recommended to live on campus and join about 22 extracurricular activities on weekends, including horse riding, rock-climbing and paragliding.

“I like the reputation of the school and the fact that extracurricular activities are considered important,” said Jeong Young-ah, sixth grader at the school.

The NCLS main campus works in partnership with the Jeju campus in a bid to maintain its high level of education standards. “We train staff in London, monitor the campus twice in a term and in the summer we will have a full-scale inspection,” said Bernice McCabe, headmistress of the U.K. NCLS.

After the launch of NLCS Jeju, some other distinguished foreign schools have plans to open branch campuses in Jeju. Among them are Branksome Hall Asia, a Canadian elite private school expected to open its Jeju campus next fall, and the Korea International School, the first Korean public international school scheduled to hold the opening ceremony next week.

JDC recently signed a memorandum of understanding with The Noble and Greenough, and St. Albans of the U.S.

The JGEC seeks to host more international schools and leading universities. It is at the beginning of the way to the goal of offering Korean students a viable alternative to overseas study while attracting foreigners to establish the island as an educational hub in Asia.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)