Selling an old-fashioned education
 |  Harrow pupils follow in the footsteps of illustrious alumni such as Winston Churchill and Lord Byron. |
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LONDON, England (CNN) -- Dating back to the reign of Elizabeth I, London's Harrow School is one of Britain's elite private educational establishments.
From the boaters worn by the all-male students to the red brick buildings and a list of alumni that includes Winston Churchill and Lord Byron, a Harrow education is a very exclusive brand -- and one for which parents are willing to invest around $200,000 per child over five years.
But now Harrow is taking its brand abroad. Harrow International Thailand is already up and running and Harrow School Beijing is in the pipeline.
And despite its quintessential Englishness, Harrow headmaster Barnaby Lenon and the school's governors are firm believers that Harrovian values are easy to export.
"We think that good exam results are very important but they don't constitute a full rounded education," Lenon told CNN.
"It's safe to assume that pupils these days are going to go on to jobs where they're going to be working in an international dimension, and that's reflected in the way we organize things here at Harrow and indeed in the pupils that come here."
As well as promoting the school's educational values internationally, there are also strong business reasons behind the decision to expand.
"The main reason why we've set up the international school in Thailand in the first instance was to raise money for Harrow in the UK," said Lenon.
"It's a franchise operation. They pay us for every pupil that they take -- a sum of money -- which is helpful to Harrow in the UK. It helps to build up facilities here and it helps to keep the fees for the parents down, so it's worthwhile."
At Harrow International Thailand in Bangkok, boys and girls wear the classic Harrow straw hat. The school opened six years ago and already has over one thousand pupils, almost twice the size of Harrow in London.
So far, it's lived up to the Harrow name, with a steady stream of placements to top international universities, and applicants queuing to sign up.
Now Matthew Farthing of Harrow Asia Inc. is hoping to replicate that success in Beijing.
Based in a former Communist school in the center of the Chinese capital, Harrow School Beijing will initially cater for expatriate 16- to 18-year-olds.
Farthing still has to wait for China's licensing laws to relax before the school can take in Chinese nationals, but he doesn't think that'll take long.
"There are now well over 50,000 Chinese nationals studying in the UK. We've noticed a similar proportion growth of Chinese citizens studying at Harrow Bangkok," Farthing told CNN.
"It's really just part of that overall growth and I think a developing interest particularly amongst some of the returning Chinese communities in international education."
The funds for both Harrow international ventures has been put up by an unnamed Chinese businessman. Part philanthropist, part profiteer, he's unlikely to make much money. The Bangkok branch still hasn't turned a profit and China isn't a safe bet either. But China specialists say a stake in the country's education scene is worth having.
"I'm sure the education system in China will become more competitive," said Peter Nightingale of the China-Britain Business Council.
"The more you have participating in the market, especially the private sector, the more competitive it will become. But I think what will happen is that the foreign education institutions that have gone into China will become part of the local education scene."
In taking their brand abroad, Harrow are pioneering a new export industry, selling their educational experience as the latest luxury item and transforming it into a global brand.
But will international proliferation devalue that brand name? Most old Harrovians wouldn't recognize the schools that bear their alma mater's name on the other side of the world.
But Virgin marketing expert Simon Burridge argues that long as the core values stay the same, the brand can go anywhere.
"If the market opportunity is there you then want somewhere that is going to be inculcated with the same values as the sponsoring school has and to try and adapt that to local traditions and local expectations," said Burridge.
"And if there is the need and you can translate the values in the appropriate context, then I think you've got every chance."
