The transnational university pathway of the emergent ‘global middle class’: The evidence from the Chinese branches of Dulwich College

The number of private K-12 English medium ‘international schools’ continues to grow, especially in Asia. Traditionally, they catered largely for the expatriate communities, reminiscent of the transnational capitalist class (TNCC). However, in recent years they have begun to attract a new type of local parents. This paper focuses attention on Dulwich College International, and by using university matriculation data from three of the overseas branches in China that deliver the International Baccalaureate’s Diploma Programme (IBDP) examines the extent to which that differs from the London-based boys’ school. We can see that an almost entirely different set of transnational pathways has quite quickly emerged. We speculate that the parental/child body in the schools in China might be more representative of the emergent ‘global middle class’ (GMC), seeking alternative flexible globally advantageous pathways, rather than the more positional ‘old middle class’ that is normally present in a national elite private schooling context.