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Wycombe Abbey wins bid for international school in Incheon's Midan City

Published: 31 Mar. 2025, 12:50 Updated: 31 Mar. 2025, 15:33

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

A rendered landscape of the branch school of Wycombe Abbey to be built in Midan City, Incheon [INCHEON FREE ECONOMIC ZONE AUTHORITY]

Incheon Metropolitan City announced Monday that a branch of Wycombe Abbey, a school in Buckinghamshire, England, was selected as the preferred bidder in the competition for a foreign school to be built in the city’s international district known as Midan City inside Yeongjong Island. The evaluation was conducted on seven schools from England, the United States and Canada.

Wycombe Abbey was established in 1896. For about 130 years, it has produced prominent alumni in various fields such as law, politics, and journalism. Major alumni include former British Member of the House of Lords Elspeth Howe, BBC Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore, and the first female Chief Justice of Wales, Dame Sue Carr.

It boasts a world-class education system and advancement rate. Ninety-three percent of its graduates so far have gone on to study at universities ranked in the top 100 in the world. In the past 10 years, about 30 percent of its graduates were accepted to Oxford University and Cambridge University.

In addition to its main campus in the UK, Wycombe Abbey operates five expanded campuses in Hong Kong and China. It is also preparing to open in Singapore and in Cairo, Egypt. The main campus is operated as a boarding school for girls, but overseas campuses, including the branch to be opened in Incheon, are operated as coeducational schools.

With the announcement Monday, the project to build an international school on approximately 96,000 square meters of land in Midan City has begun in earnest. Wycombe Abbey submitted a plan that includes academic facilities, art and performance facilities, a library and a sports complex. The final plan will be finalized through negotiations for a business agreement with the Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority and consultations with the Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education.

The Incheon Free Economic Zone Authority plans to speed up the project, aiming to sign a business agreement within the year and open the school in the second half of 2028. It plans to visit the main campus within the year, meet with the board of directors and go through the process of confirming the contents of the proposal submission. It will then enter into negotiations for signing the business agreement.

The branch school of Wycombe Abbey will be the first international school in Yeongjong. It is expected to lead the development of Yeongjong as an international city and become the cornerstone for revitalizing investment attraction.

Once international schools are established in all three districts of Incheon, including in Songdo, Cheongna, and Yeongjong, Incheon is expected to become a global city with competitiveness as a center for nurturing talent.

The bidding for an international school in Midan City is drawing attention as the first domestic success story through an international competition, breaking away from the existing cases of contract-based deals. It is the result of thorough preliminary investigation and the establishment of competition guidelines to find a solution for a project that had been at a standstill for more than 10 years.

“The establishment of the first international school in Yeongjong will be a turning point that goes beyond simply expanding educational infrastructure and elevates the region’s international status,” said Incheon Mayor Yoo Jeong-bok. “We expect this to have a positive impact on enhancing global educational competitiveness and further attracting investment and regional development."

BY LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]