Xiwai International School is a joint venture between Xiwai Investment and Management Co. Ltd. and Shanghai International Studies University . The former is a company specializing in education investment; it consists of shareholders and senior managers, including individuals from the international banking sector, such as Goldman Sachs, and from Chinese and overseas educational institutions. (The school’s Advisory Board members, too, have a cross-cultural, international background: some are from the private sector, whilst a number possess doctoral degrees from well-known Western institutions, and have taught in Chinese and Western universities, including Fudan, Harvard, Yale, and Oxford Universities ). Shanghai International Studies University is one of China ‘s key universities, directly under the jurisdiction of the Chinese Ministry of Education. It excels in the area of foreign language and culture studies. The combined resources of both partners make Xiwai International School one of the best in the Chinese pre-tertiary education arena. The Xiwai International school is located within a new university town, next to a recently established Shanghai International Studies University campus. Flanked by two rivers, it is a part of the new Songjiang City , a suburban district of Shanghai municipality.The school is only half an hour’s motorway drive to Shanghai City and Hongqiao Airport. Over the next few years, within only a ten to fifteen minutes’ walk from the school, there will be monorail and central bus stations, forming a transport hub for Songjiang City . A satellite city of Shanghai, Songjiang is located at the crossroads of Shanghai, and Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, right in the heart of the Yangtze River Delta, one of the most economically dynamic and vibrant regions of China, with a population of around 1.5 million, the highest per capita income, and the highest educational and cultural levels in China. The school enrols students from the primary level through to the secondary level, twelve grades in all. It also has an attached kindergarten. Xiwai International School strives to provide an excellent, learner-centred education, with a global focus, by combining educational resources from both East and West. It emphasizes the development of multiple abilities, in order to bring out the full potential of every student, to build students’ self-confidence, and nurture their ability to live and work independently.