What is School Debenture of International School?

Since international schools are mainly operated on a self-financing basis, individual schools use different forms of debenture programs to raise funds from students for school infrastructure projects and development, similar to domestic “sponsorship fees.” However, the difference is that parents can freely transfer and sell the school debentures issued by these international schools in the market.

Nomination right or the school debenture are usually used to build schools, recruit teachers, etc. For example, the English Foundation International School website clearly states, all nomination rights project income will be fully reserved for schools under the ESF Schools Association for infrastructure projects.

The mode and price of the school debenture issued by each school are not uniform, and different schools have different names. Mainly divided into corporate school debenture and personal school debenture. Corporate school debenture means that a company can nominate children of company employees by purchasing school debenture in the name of the company, while personal debenture means that parents purchase school debenture in their own name to nominate their children to enroll.

Do I have to purchase nomination rights or principal debenture in order to enter the international school? Not necessarily, that depends on the school. For example, ISF does not guarantee that nominees who hold the principal voucher will be admitted to the school, but applicants who hold the principal voucher will be given priority after passing the entrance assessment examination. Yew Chung International School and Singapore International School, primary and secondary students must purchase the school debenture.

Chinese International School stipulates that every student must hold the nomination right or pay an annual fee instead of the company/person nomination right.

All newly enrolled students in Yew Chung International School’s primary and secondary schools must purchase. Regardless of the student’s withdrawal for any reason, the school will refund the school debenture amount without interest within two months after the student withdraws from school.


What are the benefits of buying the school debenture?
Because the enrollment quotas of prestigious schools are in short supply, each school will arrange “students who have not succeeded in admission due to limited places” on the waiting list. At this time, you can purchase nomination rights to give students priority to participate in interview/admission opportunities.

In general, the student buys a biggest amount of nomination rights, they will get more quickly an interview opportunity. If the admission is successful, the nomination right fee will not be refunded; if the admission is unsuccessful, the nomination right fee will be refunded in full. Therefore, the main difference between the school debenture and nomination rights is that one can be transferred/sold, and the other is a one-time consumption.

Apart from the school debenture, some schools will also have other large, medium, and small donations under various names, all for development investment, such as capital fees, one-time school building fees, etc., which are basically a one-time fee. For example, students of Renaissance College Hong Kong need to pay a one-time school fee of $50,000 before enrolling.