Millionaires: getting their kid ready for boarding school - Rupert Hoogewerf

Rupert Hoogewerf

China's millionaires are getting ready to send their kid to boarding school abroad, Hurun Rich list founder Rupert Hoogewerf told an audience of Swiss business people and government official at the pre-launch of his school guide "The Best of Swiss Education" at the Beau Rivage Palace in Lausanne, Switzerland on Tuesday 29 January. 

Switzerland is getting now eight percent of Chinese students abroad, giving it a fourth place in attracting Chinese students behind education giants like the US and the UK. But the Swiss are striving to improve those numbers. Hurun Rich list founder Rupert Hoogewerf was retained by Swiss Learning, a collaboration of Swiss Schools from boarding schools to hotel schools to universities, and closed on Tuesday an international tour of workshops bringing him earlier to Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore and London. 

China's millionaires, with assets of 100 million RMB or US$16 million, are ready to send their child abroad for education, Hoogewerf argued. "Their average age is 43, their wife is 41 and their child is 14 years old. That is the time to think about their education," said Hoogewerf. "We now have 63,500 Chinese in this group of millionaires, more than in the US, and their number is only going to grow in the coming years." 

Switzerland has been moving smart by using its image of high quality, not only for education, but also for its products. By becoming part of the European Schengen Treaty a few years ago, Chinese can get visas easier, now also for individual visits. In May Air China will start a four day per week service between Beijing and Geneva. Swiss ambassador in Beijing Blaise Godet presented the first figures on Swiss import and export to China over 2012, illustrating a profitable relationship between the two countries, despite a financial crisis.

Rupert Hoogewerf is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form. 

 The China Weekly Hangout discussed in September 2012 the reasons Chinese have to leave their country, with lawyer Li Meixian, blogger Isaac Mao and business professor Richard Brubaker. Moderation by president of the China Speakers Bureau, Fons Tuinstra.

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