During the final weekend of August 2026, BASIS International & Bilingual Schools · China (BIBS · C) opened two new bilingual campuses: BASIS Bilingual School Guangzhou and BASIS Bilingual School Beijing. Together, the two schools welcomed nearly 1,000 students for their first year. School leaders from the network’s 13 other campuses across China joined the celebrations at both new campuses. Across north and south, the two cities now shine in tandem. From the Greater Bay Area to the nation’s capital, BIBS · C has invested RMB 2.7 billion in these two new campuses, further strengthening its presence in southern and northern China. Drawing on BASIS Curriculum Schools’ rigorous academic model, the two new schools are reshaping the landscape and standards of international education in China, advancing the network from a national benchmark to a leader in setting new standards.
Two Campuses, One City: A New Foothold in Guangzhou
On August 29, in Pazhou in Haizhu District, BASIS Bilingual School Guangzhou welcomed its first cohort of 388 students at an opening ceremony. The school is BIBS · C’s second campus in Guangzhou and its eighth in the Greater Bay Area. It joins BASIS International School Guangzhou, which opened nine years ago. Together, the two schools share the same rigorous academic approach while serving different communities and educational pathways.
BASIS Bilingual School Guangzhou is backed by a total investment of approximately RMB 1.3 billion, with a land area of approximately 24,000 m² and a gross floor area of approximately 75,000 m². The school plans to offer a full program from toddler level through upper school and can accommodate up to 1,900 students. The campus is designed to the highest international standards with smart classrooms, science laboratories, art, music, and dance rooms, black box theaters, an auditorium, and an observatory. It also includes a 1,200 m², three-story library, a 2,600 m² indoor multi-purpose gym, a 1,000 m² temperature-controlled indoor swimming pool, and a 300-meter outdoor running track and athletic field.
The campus combines Western-style red brick and expansive glass in a clean, contemporary style. The design also draws on Lingnan garden traditions from southern China, particularly the interplay between enclosed and openspaces. The design balances the structured geometry of the bricks with the flowing forms of Lingnan gardens. The campus also incorporates a more subtle motif: the kapok flower, Guangzhou’s official city flower, which appears in the lines, patterns, and carefully crafted details of the campus. Founding Head of School Jason Shorbe helped establish both BASIS International School Shenzhen and BASIS International School Guangzhou and has been closely involved with BIBS · C’s growth in the Greater Bay Area. He said, “Each of us will leave behind our own kapok flower. Not a physical flower, of course, but something of ourselves—our work, our ideas, our care, our influence—that becomes part of this place.”
Since opening in 2017, BASIS International School Guangzhou has quickly become one of the region’s leading international schools, based on its university admissions results. Over six graduating classes, students have gained admission to some of the world’s leading universities. Today, BASIS Bilingual School Guangzhou welcomes its founding class, expanding BIBS · C’s educational offerings in the Greater Bay Area. Here in Lingnan, BIBS · C has grown from one international school to two schools offering international and bilingual programs. Each step has further strengthened the network’s presence in the region and extended the reach of its educational offerings.
Setting a New Benchmark:A Flagship Bilingual School in Beijing
On August 30, BASIS Bilingual School Beijing held its opening ceremony at its campus in Houshayu, Shunyi District. More than 1,000 founding students, faculty, and parents gathered to mark the official opening of BIBS · C’s flagship bilingual campus. Beijing is the eighth city in which BIBS · C has established a presence. After eight years of development, including two years of construction, the Beijing campus has moved from blueprint to reality, attracting strong interest from families in the capital. With 606 students in its founding class, BASIS Bilingual School Beijing marks a new stage in BIBS · C’s expansion and carries the important mission of building a leading bilingual school in Beijing’s highly competitive educational landscape.
BASIS Bilingual School Beijing has a land area of 100,000 m² and a gross floor area of 70,000 m², backed by a total investment of RMB 1.4 billion. As the largest campus in the BIBS · C network, it can accommodate 2,300 students, including 800 boarding students, and offers a continuous 12-year program. From its scale to its facilities, every aspect of the campus reflects the standards of a flagship school. The campus includes a nearly 4,000 m² auditorium, 3,500 m² cafeteria, 7,000 m² gymnasium, and two libraries of approximately 800 m² each—among the network’s most extensive facilities. The campus also includes more than 80 smart classrooms, over 20 specialized classrooms, and more than 30 dedicated arts spaces, including art rooms, music rooms, and practice rooms. Other purpose-built learning spaces include state-of-the-art science laboratories, computer rooms, and technology-equipped lecture halls. Athletics and arts facilities include a stadium with a regulation 400-meter track, two 400 m² black box theaters, and a temperature-controlled swimming pool.
Drawing inspiration from Beijing’s urban character, the campus translates a sense of order and openness into a symmetrical, elegant, and classic design language. Built of terracotta-red brick, the campus has a composed character and an unhurried pace. Along the tree-lined campus paths, 28 century-old ginkgo trees stand alongside purple and white magnolias. As the seasons change, spring greens give way to autumn golds, creating a landscape of color and texture with a clear sense of order. Gently rolling hills, stone walls, ponds, and streams are arranged throughout the campus, so that the view changes with every step and becomes part of daily school life.
From its first campus in Shekou, Shenzhen, in 2015 to its new campus in Shunyi, Beijing, in 2026, BIBS · C has expanded from south to north—from a flagship international school on the southeastern coast to a flagship bilingual school in the nation’s capital. With its arrival in Beijing, an important piece of the network’s national presence has fallen into place. Speaking on the mission of a flagship school, Founding Head of School Mark Sylte said that a school’s stature must ultimately be measured by the paths its students pursue: “Our students aspire to something different and perhaps more difficult. They pursue, in at least two languages—Chinese and English—mastery of the foundational knowledge of both East and West, to understand how that knowledge has been built and created, and then to find a place where they can contribute their voice and their creativity to expanding upon that knowledge.” This is also the significance and mission behind BIBS · C’s presence among China’s leading educational centers.
Spanning North and South: Reshaping China’s International Education Landscape
Both BASIS Bilingual School Beijing and BASIS Bilingual School Guangzhou were carefully planned, built to high standards, and opened with a strong commitment to educational quality. As the network’s largest campus and its flagship facility, the Beijing school sets a new benchmark for international education in Shunyi, a district that supports the capital’s development of international talent and greater openness in education. The Guangzhou campus benefits from its location in Pazhou’s Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy Pilot Zone. Together with BASIS International School Guangzhou in Huangpu, it forms a coordinated two-campus presence, further strengthening BIBS · C’s leadership in the Greater Bay Area. With the opening of both schools, BIBS · C’s educational resources will reach more students and families.
Since the founding of BASIS International School Shenzhen, BIBS · C has opened 15 schools—including two bilingual kindergartens—in eight key cities across China. Guided by its motto, “Knowledge · Integrity · Humanity,” BIBS · C offers a spiraling curriculum that integrates the liberal arts and sciences, building knowledge over time and creating a rigorous, dynamic educational environment that delivers outstanding educational outcomes. Since 2018, 1,229 students have graduated from BIBS · C schools. Graduates from campuses in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Hangzhou, Nanjing, and Chengdu have gone on to leading universities around the world, including Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University, Stanford University, MIT, the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Peking University, and the University of Hong Kong. Over 11 years of operation, BIBS · C graduates have received offers from every HYPSM institution as well as all Ivy League universities, achieving a double “grand slam.” Of the 1,182 graduates who applied to academic universities, 72.2% received offers from Top 30 U.S. universities or similarly ranked institutions worldwide, while 95.9% received offers from Top 50 U.S. universities or comparable institutions worldwide.
With the official opening of the new campuses in Guangzhou and Beijing, BIBS · C has expanded its presence in both the north and south, bringing its high-quality international educational resources to more students and families across China. The future is already here. As BIBS · C enters its second decade, how will it respond to the expectations placed upon it? Dr. Mark Reford, Chief Executive Head of Schools, BASIS International & Bilingual Schools · China, offered an answer at the opening ceremonies. “Here we are today in the era of AI. We have our compass. We know that our job is the same job that educators have had for thousands of years: build knowledge in our students, build their integrity, build their sense of humanity. And we are in a very good position here at the beginning of our second decade. As our students finish their formal education, as they go off into the world, we will see them putting their knowledge, their judgment to work. We will see them becoming good, thoughtful contributors to their country, to the whole world, to our collective future.”
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