CITIC's M&A Fund Launches Major Education Initiatives in China

Critical partners supporting this effort include Discovery Education and AdvancED.  Discovery Education is the leading provider of digital content and professional development for K-12 classrooms and AdvancED is the world's leading organization of educational quality, school improvement and accreditation. While AdvancED had already established its foot print in the region, Discovery Education's entry into Mainland China is a bold step that will transform the nation's education sector. China is in the initial phase of opening up the education sector to the entire global community and becoming a focal point for the world's leading educational bodies and communities .With a singular focus of creating a set of educational initiatives promoting educational excellence based on research, modern pedagogy, scientific approaches, and cultural competencies, CITIC's M&A Fund will lead the creation of dynamic digital classrooms across China.

By expanding the breadth and quality of educational offerings, China will better position itself to build and sustain the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. The CITIC M&A Fund contributes to this process by leading a group of large financial services organizations and industrial capital management firms investing in this part of the One Belt, One Road initiative focusing on educational development.

The CITIC M&A Fund has gathered a galaxy of leading partners in this effort. The Shenzhen Chamber of International Investment & Financing, Ivy Elite Education Association (IEEA), the US-China Educational Innovation Alliance, SOI Investment Holding Company, Huasheng Capital Group, South China Normal University, Association of Principals of Guangdong Province, and the Educational Science Research Institute of Shenzhen have come onboard as cosponsors. These organizations are working together with the Chinese Society of Education, the Chinese Association for Non-Government Education, Shanghai Educational Press, China Education Industry Alliance, China Mobile Internet Industry Alliance, and the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Foundation in organizing the "2017 US-China International Summit on Education Industry & Launch of CITIC Securities US-China Education Industry Investment Fund," where both the cosponsors and co-organizers announced Discovery Education's launch in China.

Nearly 200 American and Chinese leaders from the fields of education, investment and business participated in the event and the list of luminaries in attendance included : Professor Wu Yingmin, Vice President of the Chinese Society of Education; Guo Xiaohui, Standing Committee member of Shenzhen's Municipal People's Congress and Executive President of the Shenzhen Chamber of International Investment & Financing; Liu Mingtao, Managing Director with the CITIC Securities Headquarters in Shenzhen; Dr. Sharon P. Robinson, Chair of the US-China Educational Innovation Alliance and President and CEO of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) ; William F. Goodwyn, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Education; Dr. Annette Bohling, Chief Operating Officer of AdvancED; Dr. Kem Hussain, AdvancED Vice President for the Middle East/Africa and Asia/Australia; Emily Hu, President of Ivy Elite Education Association (China);  Dr. Peggy L . Brookins, President and CEO of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS); Dr Ray Pecheone, Executive Director of Stanford Center for Assessment, Learning, and Equity (SCALE), Stanford Graduate School of Education; Mr Christopher Mathews, Vice President of Global Partnerships of Discovery Education,Zhu Jianfeng, President of the CITIC M&A Fund; LiangYudong, Executive Vice President of CITIC M&A Fund; Zhong Hui, Managing Director of China Merchants Capital Investment Co., Ltd.; Li Lei, Executive Director of CDH Investments; and Chen Mingxian, President of the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Foundation. 

Mr. Liang Yudong, Executive Vice President of the CITIC M&A Fund, said that this initiative is a key centerpiece project of the CITIC M&A Fund for 2017. Developing an accredited, large-scale industrially organized education investment fund is a long-term, strategic aim for CITIC. Through this step, it will lead the way for other financial and industrial capital investments in advancing education.

This initiative is led by a number of capital management firms and will harmonize educational accreditation standards, resulting in a system of dual-accreditations in the United States and The People's Republic of China.

AdvancED will play a crucial role in organizing and coordinating this process.  Dr. Annette Bohling , COO of AdvancED said AdvancED is the largest nonprofit professional organization for education accreditation in the world, and specializes in educational diagnostics, evaluation, school improvement and accreditation in education systems. Within these actions, AdvancED assesses curriculum needs and develops courses and educational programs for both primary and secondary level programs to meet these needs. Its expertise covers a wide range of programs, including vocational, STEM-focused, special educational purpose, online and digital schools. AdvancED's aim is to ensure that all learners have access to high-quality education in different school formats in order that students will have a world of opportunities based on their varying needs to realize and develop their full potential.

China's efforts to develop global standards in education, and to build world class primary and secondary schools, is only one aspect of the "One Belt, One Road" initiative. "One Belt, One Road"  has moved China into a leading role in promoting globalization, international infrastructure development and integration of markets. CITIC's M&A Fund has taken a lead role in advancing the "One-Belt, One Road" system through its investments and  in  backing AdvancED's work in China, both organizations can accelerate the process of social impact on the human skills side of infrastructural development and implementation. These efforts will broaden cooperation and coordination across educational markets and regimes, giving students access to more and higher quality educational choices within a dual accreditation framework. 

The FOF supports the process of improving international education and private education in China by importing the best global practices

Emily Hu, President of Ivy Elite Education Association (China), an educational expert and chief architect, working behind-the-scenes on the successful launch of Discovery Education China and the AdvancED China Accreditation Council, directly identifies the advantages of partnering with Discovery Education and AdvancED. Discovery Education boasts the world's best digital textbooks and the richest support material for teaching in the STEM fields while AdvancED accreditation system integrates curriculum development with assessment that will help China's private primary and secondary schools to work  more closely with international peer schools in more than 70 countries. Emily Hu added that the high-quality teaching resources and educational services  directly address the growing needs of China's educational system and  international education community for ensuring educational quality and a commitment to equity for all sectors of the Chinese society and the global community at large. This alliance specifically address- es the needs for  providing instructional resources, developing materials for curriculum design, improving teaching effectiveness and assessment, offering training, development, and certification for all practitioners, and developing educational environment planning.

* At the 2017 US-China International Summit on Education Industry, which is co-organized by the Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Foundation,CITIC's M&A Fund announced a new education initiative called "US-China Global Alliance in Education Industry Investment". 

SOURCE Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Foundation