Introduction
Jinan Foreign Language School (济南外国语学校) is a state school in Jinan. Jinan is the capital city of Shandong province, in eastern China. Local families call the school 济外. In English it is often shortened to JFLS or JNFLS.
The school runs an international programme for senior high school students. This programme teaches British A-Level courses and American AP courses. It is on the school’s Huashan campus, in the north-east of Jinan.
Very little correct information about this school exists in English. Some map services show the wrong address. This page gives you the four things that matter most: the fees, the location, the entry rules, and where graduates go.
Key Takeaways
Fees are ¥86,000 per year for A-Level and AP. The Multilingual Excellence course costs ¥36,600 per year. These fees did not change between 2025 and 2026.
The campus is at No. 3399 Jinyu Avenue, Huashan Subdistrict, Licheng District, Jinan (金舆大道3399号). The postal code is 250108.
The school takes 260 students each year: 180 for A-Level and AP, and 80 for Multilingual Excellence.
Students must apply through the Jinan zhongkao, the city’s high school entrance exam. The 2026 rules do not include any way for foreign passport holders to apply.
The school reports strong results. It says 1,856 graduates have all gone on to well-known universities. Please read our note on how these numbers are counted.
In 2026 the school changed the programme’s name from 国际课程项目 to 外语特色课程项目. It is the same programme.
Fees for 2026 to 2027
These fees come from the school’s official prospectus for 2026, published on 28 June 2026. In China, a state school must have its fees approved by the city pricing authority. This prospectus confirms that approval.
| Course | Fee | Per | USD |
|---|---|---|---|
| A-Level Course | ¥86,000 | per student, per school year | about US$12,000 |
| AP Course | ¥86,000 | per student, per school year | about US$12,000 |
| Multilingual Excellence | ¥36,600 | per student, per school year | about US$5,100 |
The US dollar amounts are estimates, based on a rate of about ¥7.2 to US$1. The real amount will change with the exchange rate. These figures are tuition only. The prospectus does not list the cost of boarding, meals, exam entry or textbooks. Chinese schools normally charge for these separately.
For comparison, international schools for foreign passport holders in Beijing or Shanghai often charge ¥200,000 to ¥350,000 per year. So ¥86,000 is much lower. It is a normal price for a good state-school international programme in a provincial capital. The Multilingual Excellence course at ¥36,600 is very low for what it offers.
Quick Facts
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name (2026) | 济南外国语学校（三箭分校）外语特色课程项目 — Foreign Language Specialist Curriculum Programme |
| Former official name | 国际课程项目 (International Curriculum Programme), used until 2025 |
| Other names you may see | 国际部 (International Department), 国际课程中心 (International Curriculum Centre) |
| Main school | 济南外国语学校 — Jinan Foreign Language School (济外, JFLS, JNFLS) |
| Which body runs it | 三箭分校 (Sanjian Branch), the school’s private arm |
| School founded | 1989. It opened officially in September 1990. |
| Programme started | 2010. First students joined in September 2010. |
| School type | Chinese state school for foreign languages, with a private branch |
| Courses | UK A-Level; US Advanced Placement (AP); Multilingual Excellence |
| Year groups | Senior high school only (Grades 10 to 12) |
| Places each year | 260 in total: 180 for A-Level and AP, 80 for Multilingual Excellence |
| Fees | ¥86,000 per year (A-Level, AP); ¥36,600 per year (Multilingual Excellence) |
| Campus | Huashan campus, Licheng District, Jinan, Shandong |
| Size of school group | About 7,000 students and staff, across seven member schools |
| Languages taught | English, German, Japanese, Russian |
| Principal | Lin Baolei (林宝磊), since August 2022 |
| Official website | jnfls.jinan-edu.cn |
| School motto | 人文天下 行者无疆 — “Humanity across the world, the traveller has no limits” |
Four Names, One Programme
Different websites use different names for this programme, which makes searching difficult. All four names below mean the same thing.
| Name | Status |
|---|---|
| 外语特色课程项目 | Current official name, used from 2026 |
| 国际课程项目 | Official name until 2025 |
| 国际课程中心 | Official name in the 2019 and 2020 prospectuses |
| 国际部 | Informal name. Used by other websites, but not by the school |
Where the Campus Is
The school has moved several times in 35 years. Today all parts of the school are on one campus, in the Huashan (华山) area of Licheng District, in the north-east of Jinan. The campus is about 10 km from the city centre, near Huabuzhu Hill and Huashan Lake. The school’s own 2026 prospectus confirms this address.
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Street address | No. 3399 Jinyu Avenue / 金舆大道3399号 |
| Subdistrict | Huashan Subdistrict / 华山街道 |
| District | Licheng District / 历城区 |
| City and province | Jinan, Shandong / 山东省济南市 |
| Postal code | 250108 |
| Coordinates | 36.73131° N, 117.048388° E |
This campus is shared by the senior high school, the junior high school (which moved here in 2020), the Sanjian Branch secondary classes, and a small primary section. The international programme is inside the senior high school. It does not have its own separate campus.
Travel, and Two Wrong Addresses
Jinan is on the main high-speed railway line between Beijing and Shanghai. The journey takes about 1 hour 30 minutes to Beijing and about 3 hours to Shanghai. Trains leave from Jinan West or Jinan East station. The nearest airport is Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport (TNA), about 25 km north-east of the campus.
Please be careful with international map services. Google Maps shows two addresses that are now wrong:
6868 Airport Road (机场路6868号). This was the old senior high campus. Jinan Technician College now uses this site.
1 Jianguo Xiaojing Third Road. This was the school’s first site in 1989. Shandong Jinan Middle School now uses it.
Who Can Apply
This is the most important section for international families. Two official facts point in different directions, and most websites report only one of them.
The school may host international students. But this programme has no application route for them.
First fact
Jinan Education Bureau publishes a list of 204 schools in the city approved to enrol international students. Jinan Foreign Language School is on this list. So the school does hold this approval.
Second fact
The 2026 prospectus says applicants must be final-year junior high students in Jinan, must take the Jinan zhongkao, then the school’s own English interview, applying through the Jinan city admissions platform. It gives no separate route for foreign passport holders, or for students from Hong Kong, Macao or Taiwan. The same was true in 2025.
What this means for you. A family arriving from another country will not have a Jinan zhongkao score, so this programme is closed to them in practice. The school does hold an international-student approval, so you may still ask about other routes — but two years of official documents show no route into this programme. If an agent promises you entry, ask for it in writing from the school before you pay anything.
How the Application Works
These rules come from the 2026 prospectus. They apply to students in the Jinan school system. They are useful to read even if you cannot apply, because they show how selective the programme is.
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Places | 260 in total. 180 for A-Level and AP together. 80 for Multilingual Excellence. |
| Who may apply | Final-year junior high students in Jinan city. Laiwu and Gangcheng districts are not included. |
| Zhongkao score | Must reach or pass Jinan’s guidance line for general senior high schools. |
| Subject grades | Grade C or higher in both Moral Education and Law (道德与法治) and History. |
| School’s own test | An English interview, marked out of 60. |
| 2026 timetable | Registration 30 June (16:00) to 1 July (22:00). Interview on 3 July. |
| Consent | New in 2026: both the student and the parents must agree before applying. |
| Other admission routes | Students admitted through 综合评价招生 (comprehensive evaluation) may not move into this programme. |
| Excluded families | Children of people on China’s judgment-defaulter register (失信被执行人) may not apply. |
| Effect on 保送 rights | Students in this programme do not receive foreign-language 保送 selection rights. See the section below. |
The defaulter rule is real, and it appears in the official prospectus. It follows a wider Chinese practice of limiting fee-paying private education for families with unpaid court judgments.
Where Graduates Go
The school publishes its own results. We have not checked these results independently. Please read them as the school’s own claims.
Please Understand How These Numbers Are Counted
Chinese schools usually count offer letters, not students. One student can receive five or more offers from different universities. So “1,000 offers” does not mean 1,000 students. In the table below we show the number of graduates first, so you can judge the offer numbers correctly.
Also, a “100% admission rate” normally means every student received at least one offer from that group of universities. It does not mean every student went to one of them.
| Graduating Year | What the School Reports | Source Quality |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 — 161 graduates (102 A-Level, 59 AP) | The school says all 161 graduates received offers from well-known universities. It reports that 71% of A-Level students received a G5 offer, and 51% of AP students received a US top-30 offer. | NO PERMANENT LINK — School WeChat, 19 May 2023. We could not save a permanent link. |
| 2025 — 174 graduates (114 A-Level, 60 AP) | The school reports about 1,000 offers in total, or about 5 per student. It reports scholarships of more than ¥22 million. It also reports an 80% G5 offer rate, 100% for UK top-10, and 100% for US top-35 among AP students. | PROGRAMME ACCOUNT — WeChat account 济外国际, 3 April 2025. Run by the programme, not the main school. |
| All years to 2026 — 1,856 graduates | The school says all 1,856 graduates have gone on to well-known universities. | OFFICIAL — Official 2026 prospectus, 28 June 2026. |
We could not find a results summary for the 2024 or 2026 graduating years. The school may not have published one, or we may not have been able to reach it.
Why This School Is Respected in China
JFLS has a strong reputation in Shandong province. English-language sources do not explain why. There are five main reasons.
It holds the only gaokao-exemption licence in Shandong. In 2001 the Ministry of Education chose 17 foreign language schools across China. These schools may recommend students for university places without the gaokao exam. JFLS is still the only school in the province with this right.
Its junior high school is very hard to enter. There are fewer than 1,000 places. About 10,000 students apply. In some years, the acceptance rate has been lower than Shandong’s rate of entry to top-tier universities.
It teaches four languages seriously. The school opened in 1989 with Japanese, English and Russian. It still runs German, Japanese and Russian classes alongside English. Very few Chinese schools keep four working languages.
It is the largest school in Jinan’s school system. About 7,000 students and staff, across seven member schools. This gives it stable funding and stable staff.
Local families see it as the best route abroad. The international programme opened in 2010. German, Japanese and Russian tracks were added in 2018. Since then, families in Jinan have viewed JFLS as the city’s strongest school for overseas study.
One point is important for international families. The Chinese government recognises this school mainly for language teaching. The A-Level and AP courses are a good addition, but they are not the reason the school became famous.
Courses and Country Routes
The programme started in 2010. It is unusual because it teaches both A-Level and AP. Most Chinese schools choose only one system.
Chinese Wikipedia says the programme was founded with a partner, the Beijing Zhongyu Education Development Research Centre (北京中育教育发展研究中心). The school’s own documents do not name any partner today. We could not confirm whether this partnership continues.
The school also runs separate routes for several countries:
A-Level (UK) · AP (USA) · Multilingual Excellence
German from Grade 10 (since 2018)
Japanese and Russian from Grade 11 (since 2018)
Germany preparation course · Russia preparation course
Japan — Kansai Language Academy · Singapore — NUS SM2
France — INSA · Germany — North Rhine-Westphalia universities
The school also reports direct agreements with the University of Toronto, Colorado State University, California State University Bakersfield, and Ritsumeikan, Doshisha and Hosei universities in Japan.
Russian-speaking and Central Asian families may find this useful. A permanent Russian language track and a Russia preparation course are rare in a Chinese provincial city.
The 保送生 System, and Why It Does Not Help This Programme
保送生 (bǎosòngshēng) means a student who enters a Chinese university without taking the gaokao exam. The university accepts the school’s recommendation instead. The Ministry of Education gives this right to only a few schools, and only for certain subjects. For JFLS, the subjects are foreign languages and literature.
JFLS was the national leader in this system for many years. Between 2007 and 2013 it recommended between 196 and 218 students each year. The Ministry reduced the national numbers from 2016. JFLS then received 144 places in each year from 2021 to 2024. At times its share was more than 2% of all such places in China.
The 2026 prospectus states that students in this programme do not receive foreign-language 保送 selection rights (不享受外语类保送选拔资格). The 2025 prospectus used different wording with the same effect.
So the 保送 system is one reason the school is respected. But it is not a benefit you receive by joining the international programme. A student who wants the 保送 route needs the school’s regular Chinese-curriculum classes instead. These are two different paths, and a student must choose one.
What We Could Not Confirm
We publish gaps instead of guesses. We could not confirm the items below from official school or government sources. We will not estimate them.
| Item | Status |
|---|---|
| Route for foreign passport holders | NONE PUBLISHED — the school holds international-student approval, but the 2025 and 2026 prospectuses give no route into this programme |
| Total number of students in the programme | NOT CONFIRMED — 260 places per year is known; the full roll is not published |
| Cost of boarding, meals, exams and books | NOT CONFIRMED — the prospectus does not list these |
| Results for the 2024 and 2026 graduating years | NOT FOUND — no summary located on official channels |
| Whether reported figures count offers or students | MIXED — the school’s reports use both methods |
| Current status of the Zhongyu partnership | NOT CONFIRMED — no official statement either way |
| Average A-Level and AP grades | NOT FOUND — the school reports university offers, not grades |
Frequently Asked Questions
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