Dulwich College

Our Origins – Founded by Parents and Dulwich College Nearly 400 years after Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn founded Dulwich College, a boys’ school in London, British lawyer Fraser White and his wife Karen Yung began looking for a school in Shanghai that would provide for their three young children. They wanted a challenging and ambitious education that would prepare their children for the future, moulding them into confident and well-rounded young people. Beyond academics, they wanted a school community with the open-mindedness and doughtiness bred of international experience, a strong co-curricular programme and the grounding provided by venerable British educational traditions. Their search came up short. A serendipitous meeting with Graham Able, the then Master of Dulwich College in London, resulted in the idea of opening an international Dulwich College in Shanghai. Dating back to 1619, Dulwich College is one of the UK’s oldest independent schools, and it has a long history of academic excellence, innovation and respect for tradition. Its academic strength was matched by its broad and challenging co-curricular programme in sports, music, visual arts, drama and debate, which were underdeveloped in Shanghai at that time. The Dulwich London Governors embraced the idea and under the leadership of Eddie George, the then Governor of the Bank of England and Chairman of the Governors, Dulwich formed a 100-year global partnership with Fraser and Karen to open international colleges around the world. Dulwich College International was born. Since the first school in Shanghai in 2003, the Dulwich international family of schools has grown in China and elsewhere in Asia with our students achieving academic results that place them alongside the world’s best. They make significant strides in sport and in the arts, graduating to leading universities around the world. Fraser and Karen’s children were no exception and have since graduated earning themselves places at Oxford and top universities in the United States. Founding School Dulwich College was founded by Edward Alleyn on 21 June 1619 with letters patent from King James I. READ MORE