Classes start at Dwight Int’l School

The Dwight International School Seoul opens today, the first international school lured to Seoul by the metropolitan government to improve the educational environment for foreign children in the capital.

Founded in 1872, the Dwight School is headquartered in New York with campuses in London, Vancouver and Beijing. It consistently sends its graduates to Ivy League colleges.

The Seoul city government said 299 students from 26 countries are enrolled at Dwight Seoul for the 2012 school year and the student body size will increase to 540 in the future. Classes from kindergarten to 12th grade are offered and 46 teachers from 14 countries have been hired. The school is in a five-story building on 18,659 square meters (4.61 acres) in Sangam-dong, western Seoul.

The school will limit the number of Korean students to 20 percent of the student population and are required to have three or more years of education overseas in order to be admitted.

Annual tuition is about 25 million won ($28,000), about $12,000 less expensive than the New York branch.

“We expect more international investments in Seoul as we are promoting a better educational environment for foreign residents,” said Kim Myung-ju, director of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s foreign residents’ assistance division. Currently, there are 22 international schools in Seoul, including Dwight.

The New York Dwight School was the first U.S. school to offer the IB, or international baccalaureate, program to all students.

By Kwon Sang-soo [sakwon80@joongang.co.kr]