Leading independent schools that built a reputation on providing the perfect English education are vying to market themselves abroad to raise funds for bursaries.

What started as a trickle of individual projects is fast gathering pace into a hard-nosed, business model being adopted successfully around the world, despite the global economic downturn.

Wellington College said yesterday it would expand into China - building three schools. The first, in Beijing, should be open by 2011. It has already announced plans for schools in Malaysia, Bahrain and India in the next couple of years.

Brighton College revealed this week it will set up a string of international branches. Recession-hit parents at some private schools are struggling to afford fees, and Brighton will use the funds it raises overseas to provide new buildings and endowments in England.

It claimed this week to be the first multi-school franchise, with plans to open up replicas in Abu Dhabi, Mauritius, Oman, Jordan, Romania, Vietnam and India.

Harrow, Dulwich College and Oxford High are other English schools that have already successfully created international sister schools.

Experts claim that an increasing number of schools are tapping into one of the country’s most desirable exports, by exploiting the lucrative market of wealthy foreigners and expat families prepared to shell out for an English education.

Some schools are even cloning their facilities, and intend to replicate their distinctively English school buildings and grounds in the arid settings of the Middle or Far East.

They will also use the same curricula, adapted to take social, cultural and religious sensitivities into account.

Their customer base is clear: Brighton College said its schools would be marketed in the same way as a Tiger Woods golf course, “providing a quality brand service for a wealthy clientele, both local and expatriate.” It added: “The developments are aimed at the new rich in fast-growing economies around the world.”

It has signed a deal with a large Middle East property developer, which will build the schools on residential estates.

Richard Cairns, the headmaster of Brighton College, said: “We felt that a single satellite school would generate insufficient income to justify the additional focus and time that such a venture requires.

“This multi-site, multi-national deal has allowed us to set up our own company with its own directors and staff, so that we can manage the relationship without detracting in any way from the work at hand in Brighton College.”

He said the College would appoint senior staff at the new schools and “provide the blueprint for the academic and pastoral set-up”.

This is the same pattern adopted by Wellington College. Its head Anthony Seldon held a recent conference advising other schools on how this could be done.

He said: “It’s good for the country, good for schools, good for teachers and good for children.

“The reason it’s good for Britain is because our world-class education is one of our strongest exports.

“It’s good for schools because it broadens them and gets them thinking internationally. It gives teachers opportunities for career development, within the family of schools.”

Dr Seldon said children would be able to transfer between the schools in different countries, as they would all follow the same curriculum, based on various levels of the International Baccalaureate.

He said: “My focus is obviously running Wellington Collge. The aim is that we will appoint heads at the new schools, have a role on the governing bodies and appoint governors.

“We will then inspect them annually to check standards are being highly maintained. We will make certain that they are of the same quality, and don’t just become money-making machines.”

Harrow, Dulwich and Shrewsbury schools have branches in the Far East, Repton opened in Dubai, and Haileybury School in Hertfordshire has a sister school in Kazakhstan.

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