A little corner of England

Along with several other British public schools, Marlborough College, which is in southern England is now expanding into Southeast Asia. But the college insists that, unlike Harrow, which will be establishing a school in Hong Kong next year, its Malaysian school is not a franchise. The school, which is set to open in 2012, is a sister to the British original, the college claims.

Marlborough College dates back to 1843 and has had many famous alumni. These include the late British Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, pop singer Chris de Burgh, a sprinkling of writers and explorers, BBC reporter Frank Gardner and the 'The First Wives Club', which includes the wives of Britain's current prime minister, speaker and chancellor. The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, is also a former pupil.

But what does Marlborough College Malaysia have to offer Hong Kong pupils? Key to the mix, says Neil Croucher, founder of the Marlborough College Foundation, is the balance of the curriculum.

There are debates and conversations within the classroom, along with learning techniques that set students up for life's challenges. It's more than about passing examinations, Croucher says.

Last year, 90 per cent of the college's students in England went to their first choice university, and 66 per cent went to one of the world's top 100 universities.

Marlborough College Malaysia is being built in a former palm oil plantation on 36 hectares of land in Johor, just across the narrow causeway from Singapore. It will consist of a prep school, a day school, which will eventually take 432 pupils (108 in the first year), and a senior school for pupils age 11, which will take 915 pupils (200-300 in the first year).