Promoted by Branksome Hall Asia

Branksome Hall Asia: Empowering tomorrow’s female leaders through design programs

Partner Content

South Korea is famous for many things: skincare, food, K-pop and awe-inspiring tourist attractions, but its strong education system also makes the country a highly attractive place to study abroad.

One international school that stands out is Branksome Hall Asia, a 116-year-old independent girls’ school that consistently ranks among the world’s best boarding institutions. Nestled on Jeju Island – known as the ‘Island of the Gods’ among locals – Branksome Hall Asia is an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School that prides itself on its innovative education through its IB continuum programs.

The school welcomes students from Junior Kindergarten Prep to Grade 12 from all corners of the globe. It is the mission of the school to develop students who are globally minded learners and leaders, prepared for the challenges and opportunities they’ll meet in a rapidly changing interdependent world. The school accomplishes these objectives through the delivery of an academically rigorous curriculum, the hiring of diverse and highly qualified professional staff, and through the offering of world-class facilities and state-of-the-art learning environments.

A testament to their prowess, Branksome students have consistently enjoyed enviable results, placing them in the top echelon of international schools across the whole of North-East Asia. Meanwhile, many graduates have gained entry into the world’s top universities, including the University of Cambridge, Cornell University, Brown University and the London School of Economics, to name a few.

The Design Program

With technology advancing at an accelerated speed and permeating all aspects of life, today’s youth will need to be comfortable with technology to thrive in the 21^st century, equipped with a wide range of skills that would help them work with and alongside technology in the future disruptive world of work.

Branksome Hall Asia offers a Design Program that helps students develop and flex various developmental and creative ‘muscles’ that help them successfully transition into university and beyond. This investigative program teaches students to identify and solve complex design issues – a critical skill in the future of work. As a fundamental component of the Middle Years Program (MYP), the Design Program challenges and encourages students to use cutting-edge, emerging technologies to solve real-world problems at both the local and global level.

MYP Design is a core subject that every student from Grade 6 to 9 pursues for a year and stands in stark contrast to other schools that offer it as an elective, short course or co-curricular activity. In Grade 10, students can choose to take Digital Design, Product Design, or both. Design is integrated across the MYP Curriculum and plays a key role in interdisciplinary units across the MYP. Students apply the design cycle to solving problems in various subject areas. This learning process involves students researching projects and interacting directly with professionals (that include engineers and doctors) in real-life contexts to design, refine, and test the products of student work.

Source: Branksome Hall Asia

Branksome Hall Asia’s design units help students step out of their comfort zones and push the boundaries of their capabilities. For instance, game designers often look for new ways to adapt existing games to create new experiences for players. One way to do this is to use technology to improve or enhance the game experience. Grade 6 students undergoing the Physical Computing unit will have the opportunity to use physical computing to improve an existing game that will be shared within the school community.

Designers at the school are defined by five characteristics: 1) empowered to learn and master technology and tools to bring positive change; 2) designs are human centered and aim to improve the lives of users and communities; 3) designers research contexts, explore, take risks, prototype, iterate, and evaluate their ideas; 4) designers design for sustainability; and 5) designers are global citizens who create solutions to local and global challenges.

Scholarships for a life-changing learning experience

To grant deserving female leaders the chance to benefit from the IB World School program, Branksome is offering International Merit Scholarships to talented students from all corners of the globe to make their dream of studying in beautiful Jeju a reality.

Source: Branksome Hall Asia

The scholarship provides 30 percent of the tuition fees and 30 percent of boarding fees (if applying for the boarding programme). International students may apply to Round 1 by November 14 for entrance on February 2020 (Semester Two of 2019-2020 academic year) or Round 2 by March 16, 2020. Alternatively, they may apply for entrance at the start of the 2020-2021 academic year, in August 2020.

Scholarships are given in recognition of a student’s academic success, leadership commitments, co-curricular involvement, and other talents and achievements. Recipients must remain in good academic standing to maintain the scholarship award, while all applicants must complete the regular admissions process alongside the scholarship application process. Those who qualify for the final round of selection are invited to come to Branksome Hall Asia to make their presentation (at their own cost). Remote presentations are also possible.

If your interest is piqued, visit the school’s website for more details on the selection and application process to kickstart your child’s journey for an unparalleled learning experience.

Follow Branksome Hall Asia on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube