British elite private schools and their overseas branches: unexpected actors in the global education industry

Our paper examines the opening of branches overseas (‘satellite colleges’) by elite private schools mainly located in England (‘founding colleges’), largely in emerging economies of the Middle East and southeast Asia. We trace the development of these ‘satellite colleges’ over three successive waves of growth, from opportunistic venturing in Thailand in the late-1990s to their recent rapid growth in numbers in a phase characterized by the market entry of new actors and geographic diversification. We argue that the emergence of these schools occurs in line with the continued intensification and diversification of the Global Education Industry. This implies a significant shift in the modes of legitimation on which British elite schools typically rely.