🇨🇳 Shenzhen
Best International Schools in Shenzhen
The top-rated international schools in Shenzhen include BASIS International School Shenzhen, QSI International School of Shenzhen, Shekou International School. BrightKey has independently rated 5 schools on verifiable public data — ordered by inspection & accreditation tier, with no payments from any school.
What “best” means here
This is not a paid ranking — no school can buy a position. Order follows our transparent tier: in markets with a graded public inspectorate (e.g. Dubai's KHDA), by the verifiable inspection band; where there is none, by accreditation depth and curriculum authorisation, capped at A. Within a tier, schools are listed alphabetically. School-reported university placement is always flagged and never tiered.
Read the full tiering methodology.
A foreign-passport-only (外籍人员子女学校) campus of the BASIS network, running its accelerated, STEM-heavy American curriculum with Advanced Placement as the leaving qualification. Notably the exception among BASIS China schools — most admit mainland nationals, but BASIS Shenzhen does not. Cognia-accredited; high-intensity, US-college-focused.
A foreign-passport-only (外籍人员子女学校) member of the global Quality Schools International network, running its distinctive mastery-based American model plus both AP (with AP Capstone) and the full IB Diploma. Operating in Shekou since 2001; MSA-accredited since 2006.
Shenzhen's oldest international school (founded 1988 by four oil companies), a foreign-passport-only, ISS-governed non-profit running the IB PYP and Diploma across three Shekou campuses — it cannot enrol ordinary mainland Chinese nationals. WASC-accredited, with distinctive French-bilingual and Heritage German tracks.
A foreign-passport IB continuum school (深圳外国语学校国际部, founded 2001) offering all three IB programmes — PYP, MYP and DP — with triple IB/CIS/WASC accreditation. Distinct from the public Shenzhen Foreign Languages School it grew from; serves expat and HK/Macau/Taiwan families in Nanshan.
China's standout Cambridge A-Level college (深圳国际交流书院, founded 2003) — a Shenzhen-regulated private school that DOES admit mainland Chinese nationals, unlike the foreign-passport schools. Famous for an exceptional UK/Oxbridge admissions record (school-reported); a boarding-available, highly selective IGCSE→A-Level powerhouse.
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