Introduction
LifePlus has five active international schools in mainland China: Tianjin, Chengdu, Qingdao, Wuhan and Yantai. Its homepage and schools section show five schools, although its About page still displays a legacy total of seven international schools. LifePlus also runs one school in the United Arab Emirates, plus an online academy.
All five China campuses are accredited by Cognia. They deliver K–12 education through an American curriculum from Pre-K through Grade 12, with AP classes offered at the high school level.
The LifePlus name is new. The schools are not. Two older organisations merged in 2022 to form LifePlus: a leadership-training group whose programmes began in 1980, and a schools network whose first campus opened in 1986.
This guide covers the five China campuses. It also includes a sixth campus that closed in 2024. It compares published tuition across cities. And it covers a point most articles miss: the documentation requirements for enrolling vary by campus.
Quick answer: LifePlus runs five active schools in mainland China. A sixth campus in Wuxi closed in June 2024. The group also includes a UAE campus and an online academy.
Key Takeaways
LifePlus operates five active international schools in mainland China. A sixth China campus in Wuxi closed to students in June 2024. The homepage and schools section show five; the About page still displays a legacy count of seven.
Documentation requirements differ by campus. Qingdao and Wuhan explicitly require the student to hold a foreign passport. Tianjin, Chengdu and Yantai publish additional qualifying categories involving overseas birth, foreign permanent residency, Hong Kong, Macau or Taiwan documentation, and legal guardianship.
Qingdao is the strictest on parental residence. ISQ’s admissions FAQ requires at least one parent to live in Qingdao with the child, so a guardian-only arrangement does not meet its stated policy. Tianjin, Chengdu and Yantai publish legal-guardian pathways.
All five are Cognia-accredited. In June 2026, LifePlus schools announced that the LifePlus system of schools had earned Cognia Accreditation with Distinction. Several campuses participated in the system review, including Qingdao, Wuhan and Yantai.
The group formed in 2022, from the merger of a leadership-training organisation (programmes from 1980) and a schools consortium (first campus 1986).
Annual high-school tuition ranges from RMB 216,000 to RMB 288,000 across the five campuses. This is not a same-year comparison — see the fee table below.
How Many LifePlus Schools Operate in China?
Five. LifePlus currently operates five active international schools in mainland China. Its homepage and schools section show five schools, although its About page still displays a legacy total of seven international schools — a count that predates the closure of the Wuxi campus. A sixth China campus, International School of Wuxi, closed in June 2024. The group also runs one school in the United Arab Emirates and an online academy.
LifePlus Schools at a Glance
Statistics in this guide are school-reported figures retrieved in August 2026 and may change from year to year.
| Campus | City | Founded | Avg. Class Size | Student Nationalities | Accreditation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tianjin International School | Tianjin | 1986 | 21 | 20 | Cognia |
| Chengdu International School | Chengdu, Sichuan | 1997 | 20 | 10 (About page) / 20+ (March 2026) | Cognia |
| International School of Qingdao | Qingdao, Shandong | 1996 | 14 | 23 | Cognia |
| Wuhan Yangtze International School | Wuhan, Hubei | 2003 | 17 | 20+ | Cognia |
| Yantai Huasheng International School | Yantai, Shandong | 2016 | 17 | 21 | Cognia |
| International School of Wuxi CLOSED | Wuxi, Jiangsu | 2007 – closed 2024 | 12 | 12 | Cognia (until closure) |
All five active campuses share the same accreditor, the same broad curriculum and one parent organisation. They are not identical. Published tuition and documentation requirements differ, and even the grade at which elementary school ends and middle school begins varies by city.
The founding years above come from each school’s official history page. They are not the same as registration or licensing dates, which can differ by several years. Wuhan’s school started in 2003 as South Lake International School and received its Ministry of Education licence in 2011. Yantai received its provincial licence in April 2015 but opened in August 2016, more than a year later.
LifePlus reports approximately 769 staff and 1,919 students from 68 nationalities across the network (school-reported, retrieved August 2026). The website states this covers five campuses in China, the UAE school and the online academy. Each campus also has its own school council, which supports that campus’s head of school under one shared management team.
Current Tuition Comparison
This is not a same-year comparison. The campuses publish fee updates on different schedules — Tianjin still publishes 2025–26 figures, while Chengdu, Qingdao, Wuhan and Yantai have published 2026–27 schedules. Yantai’s 2026–27 document was last updated in March 2026.
Two further inconsistencies are worth knowing about. Qingdao’s English page labels its fees 2026–27, while its Chinese page shows the identical figures labelled 2025–26. Wuhan’s English and Chinese pages both agree on the year (2026–27) but show different amounts, generally 3–6% apart by grade band. We could not determine which version is current in either case. Confirm directly with each school before budgeting.
| Campus | Published Cycle | Early Years (RMB) | Elementary | Middle School | High School |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tianjin | 2025–26 | 78,000–180,000 | 271,000 (G1–6) | 283,000 (G7–8) | 288,000 (G9–12) |
| Chengdu | 2026–27 | 170,000 | 238,000 (G1–5) | 246,000 (G6–8) | 251,000 (G9–12) |
| Qingdao | 2026–27 * | 139,400 | 208,600 (G1–5) | 221,400 (G6–8) | 225,000 (G9–12) |
| Wuhan — English page | 2026–27 | 92,000 / 143,000 | 210,000 (G1–5) | 220,000 (G6–8) | 222,000 (G9–10) / 226,000 (G11–12) |
| Wuhan — Chinese page | 2026–27 | 86,000 / 134,000 | 204,000 (G1–5) | 214,000 (G6–8) | 216,000 (G9–10) / 219,000 (G11–12) |
| Yantai | 2026–27 | 99,000–114,000⚠ CONFIRM — figure carried from 2025–26 | 190,000 (G1–5) | 202,000 (G6–8) | 216,000 (G9–12) |
*Qingdao’s fee pages show identical amounts but list different academic years.
Two things stand out beyond the raw numbers. First, the line between elementary and middle school shifts: Tianjin runs elementary through Grade 6, while the other four campuses stop at Grade 5. Second, Wuhan is the only campus that prices the final two years of high school separately, at a small premium for Grades 11–12.
What Tuition Does and Does Not Include
Additional charges vary by campus and may include application or enrolment processing, meals, transportation, uniforms, technology, trips, English-language support or specialist learning support. Some campuses include services that other campuses charge separately.
For example, Chengdu states that tuition already includes set bus routes, learning-support services and English-language services, with only lunch and enrolment processing shown separately. Tianjin, by contrast, excludes transport, lunch, learning support and English-language services from tuition. Qingdao also publishes separate bus, meal, application and support-related costs.
Ask each campus for a full fee schedule, not just the tuition line, before comparing two schools on price.
Admissions and Passport Eligibility
LifePlus schools serve internationally eligible families under Chinese rules governing schools for children of foreign nationals — but the exact documentation requirements differ by campus.
Qingdao & Wuhan
Explicitly require the student to hold a foreign passport.
Tianjin, Chengdu & Yantai
Publish additional qualifying categories: overseas birth, foreign permanent residency, Hong Kong / Macau / Taiwan documentation, and legal guardianship.
Families should confirm eligibility directly with the relevant school before applying. A campus’s published wording is the best available signal, but it is not a substitute for written confirmation.
Guardian Requirements by Campus
The differences matter most for one kind of family: both parents based outside China, with a child who would live locally under a guardian.
Three patterns, not one:
Tianjin, Chengdu and Yantai publish the same detailed eligibility list, which includes a legal-guardian route where both parents hold foreign passports and the child lives locally with a legal guardian.
Qingdao — ISQ’s admissions FAQ requires the applicant to hold a foreign passport and at least one parent to live in Qingdao with the child. A guardian-only arrangement, without a resident parent, does not meet ISQ’s stated policy.
Wuhan — WYIS’s current page states that the student must hold a foreign passport. It does not publish a separate guardian pathway. Older versions of the same page also required a parent’s foreign passport, so the published wording has changed over time.
What We Could and Couldn’t Confirm
None of the five cities’ education offices publish their own rules on the guardian pathway. Where a guardian route exists, it appears in the school’s own published admissions material rather than in any local government rule we could locate. That makes each school’s admissions page the best available signal — and makes written confirmation from the school essential before a family arranges guardianship. This matters most for Qingdao and Wuhan.
This is exactly where Alifa can help. We verify the current published requirements at each campus and help families arrange legal, local guardianship — before a city is chosen.
Individual School Profiles
Tianjin International School
Tianjin International School is the founding campus of the network, opened in 1986. It is a day school for Pre-K to Grade 12, offering an American, AP-based curriculum in Hexi District.
| Avg. Class Size | Student Nationalities | Teacher:Student | Avg. SAT® | AP Classes | Staff Nationalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 20 | 1:4 | 1,376 | 15 | 12 |
History & Leadership
Ryan Witt is Head of School. TIS began in 1986 as the “MTI Education Program,” with one head principal, six full-time teachers and 30 students. It was renamed Tianjin International School in 1996, at its ten-year anniversary. Tianjin’s city government page shows 1985 rather than 1986, but TIS states 1986 on its own site, and both its 10-year (1996) and 35-year (2021) anniversary references date back to 1986. 2025–26 is the school’s 40th year. In September 2025 it hosted its first “Principals’ Coffee” event, marking the milestone and honouring founding head Dr. Claude Meyers.
Accreditation
TIS is Cognia-accredited. It held WASC accreditation from 1992 to 2021 before the transition. As of November 2025, Tianjin International School had been recognised as a College Board AP Capstone Honor School in China for three consecutive years. Over the earlier two-year reporting period (reported March 2025), 31% of its graduates earned the full AP Capstone Diploma. Recent graduates have attended schools including Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Korea University, Seoul National University and the University of Hong Kong — a sample the school highlights, not a complete list.
Admissions and the Guardian Pathway
Tianjin’s admissions page lists five qualifying conditions, including a legal-guardian route where both parents hold foreign passports and the child lives in Tianjin with a legal guardian.
| Grade Level | Tuition |
|---|---|
| Elementary (Grades 1–6) | RMB 271,000 |
| Middle School (Grades 7–8) | RMB 283,000 |
| High School (Grades 9–12) | RMB 288,000 |
Chengdu International School
Chengdu International School occupies a purpose-built campus in Jinjiang District. Chengdu publishes the highest school-reported average SAT score among the LifePlus campuses whose figures were available during this review.
| Avg. Class Size | Student Nationalities | Teacher:Student | Avg. SAT® | College Destinations | Staff Nationalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 10 (About page); 20+ (March 2026 announcement) |
1:5 | 1,410 | 108 | 6 |
History & Leadership
Grace Hale is Head of School (appointed August 2025, her sixth year at the school). CDIS was founded in 1997 with 18 students and four teachers, and states that it is the oldest international school in Chengdu and in western China. In 2007 the school states it became the first school in western China accredited by WASC. The company that created CDIS was registered with Sichuan’s civil affairs office in 2004; in 2021 it received provincial approval and its current Chinese name. Both are milestones rather than founding dates. CDIS is also a SENIA member school, part of a global network supporting students with diverse learning needs.
Accreditation
CDIS is Cognia-accredited. In June 2026, LifePlus schools announced that the LifePlus system of schools had earned Cognia Accreditation with Distinction, following a system review in which several campuses participated. This is a system-level recognition rather than an award received by Chengdu alone.
Admissions and the Guardian Pathway
CDIS publishes the same five-condition list as Tianjin and Yantai, including the legal-guardian route for families where both parents hold foreign passports.
Tuition (2026–27)
| Grade Level | Tuition (RMB) |
|---|---|
| Elementary (Grades 1–5) | 238,000 |
| Middle School (Grades 6–8) | 246,000 |
| High School (Grades 9–12) | 251,000 |
Chengdu states that tuition includes set bus routes, learning-support services and English-language services; lunch and enrolment processing are billed separately.
International School of Qingdao
International School of Qingdao opened in 1996 and is approaching its 30th anniversary. Among the five campuses, ISQ reports the smallest average class size and the largest number of university destinations, based on school-reported figures retrieved in August 2026.
| Avg. Class Size | Student Nationalities | Teacher:Student | Avg. SAT® | College Destinations | Staff Nationalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14 | 23 | 1:5 | 1,355 | 200+ | 14 |
History & Leadership
Gabe Lee is Head of School. ISQ states it opened on September 23, 1996 with eight foreign students, as the first international school in Qingdao and Shandong Province, then known as QMIS. Its 25th-anniversary reference in 2021 dates back to 1996. ISQ was named a 2025 Future Star at the Hurun Dazzling Future Education Ceremony held January 25, 2026 in Shanghai. The school’s English marketing renders this as the “2025 Influential International School Future Star”; the ceremony’s own award list uses the category 2025年度实力突出国际化学校未来之星, which translates more closely as “2025 Outstanding-Strength International School Future Star.”
Accreditation
ISQ is Cognia-accredited. The school states it was the first WASC-accredited school in Qingdao, from 2005 to 2021, before the network-wide move to Cognia. ISQ also runs an AP programme, though its materials do not state an exact course count the way Tianjin’s do. International students can add further AP subjects through LifePlus Online Academy alongside the on-campus programme. Recent graduates have attended Duke, King’s College London, Korea University, the National University of Singapore and the University of Toronto, among others — a sample, not a complete list. Qingdao was one of the campuses that participated in the June 2026 LifePlus system review that earned Cognia Accreditation with Distinction.
Admissions and the Guardian Pathway
This is the one campus where a guardian-only arrangement does not meet the school’s stated rule. ISQ’s admissions FAQ requires the applicant to hold a foreign passport and at least one parent to live in Qingdao with the child. Any family planning around a Qingdao guardian should obtain written confirmation from the school first.
Tuition (2026–27)
| Grade Level | Tuition |
|---|---|
| Elementary (Grades 1–5) | RMB 208,600 |
| Middle School (Grades 6–8) | RMB 221,400 |
| High School (Grades 9–12) | RMB 225,000 |
Qingdao publishes separate bus, meal, application and support-related costs in addition to tuition. Note that ISQ’s Chinese fee page shows identical amounts labelled 2025–26.
Wuhan Yangtze International School
Wuhan Yangtze International School sits within the Wuhan International Educational Center, a large park in the city’s development zone. The school states that in 2011 it became the first school of its kind in Central China to receive Ministry of Education approval.
| Avg. Class Size | Student Nationalities | Teacher:Student | Avg. SAT® | Teachers | Staff Nationalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 20+ | 1:4 | 1,354 | 67 | 15 |
History & Leadership
Dr. Christopher J. Rehm is Head of School. WYIS opened in 2003 as South Lake International School, with seven students in Wuchang district. It was renamed in 2011, when the school states it became the first international school in Central China to receive a Ministry of Education licence for the education of foreign children — eight years after opening. It marked its 20-year anniversary in the 2023–24 school year. Extra-curricular programming is a core part of campus life: in April 2025, WYIS co-hosted a national youth football event with the Ministry of Education’s exchange center, drawing 67 teams and around 1,200 students. Since 2012 it has also run an annual public summer camp with the local Education Bureau.
Accreditation
Wuhan Yangtze International School (WYIS) is fully Cognia-accredited. It was one of the core campuses that participated in the June 2026 LifePlus system review, which successfully earned the entire network the prestigious Cognia Accreditation with Distinction.
While some third-party WeChat posts occasionally claim that WYIS also holds a Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation, this claim is not supported by the school’s official documentation. This rumour appears to be a mix-up with its sister campus, Chengdu International School (CDIS), which does have a documented history of WASC accreditation dating back to 2007. Both schools have since shifted their primary system-wide alignment to Cognia.
Admissions and the Guardian Pathway
WYIS’s current page states that the student must hold a foreign passport. It does not require a parent to hold one, and it does not publish a separate guardian clause. Older versions of the same page did require a parent’s foreign passport. Whether Wuhan’s education office applies the current wording the same way in practice is worth confirming directly.
Tuition (2026–27)
| Grade Level | English Page | Chinese Page |
|---|---|---|
| Elementary (Grades 1–5) | RMB 210,000 | RMB 204,000 |
| Middle School (Grades 6–8) | RMB 220,000 | RMB 214,000 |
| Grades 9–10 | RMB 222,000 | RMB 216,000 |
| Grades 11–12 | RMB 226,000 | RMB 219,000 |
Note: The English-language and Chinese-language versions of the school’s 2026–27 tuition page list different fees. We could not determine which version is current, so confirm the latest tuition directly with the school before budgeting.
Yantai Huasheng International School
Yantai Huasheng International School opened in 2016 on a purpose-built seaside campus, and states it was Yantai’s first English-language international school. It publishes the lowest tuition of the five campuses on its current 2026–27 fee schedule.
| Avg. Class Size | Student Nationalities | Teacher:Student | Avg. SAT® | College Destinations | Staff Nationalities |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 17 | 21 | 1:4 | 1,344 | 47 | 11 |
History & Leadership
Elliot Miller is Head of School. The campus opened in August 2016, not 2015: a Yantai provincial licence was granted in April 2015, but construction took roughly 16 more months, and a local government WeChat post confirms a September 2016 completion date, consistent with the school’s own timeline. YHIS became an HSK (Chinese-proficiency) testing centre in 2022 and states it was the only testing centre in Yantai able to continue offering HSK testing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The campus offers multimedia classroom systems and campus-wide wireless access. YHIS shares parts of its wider school community with Yantai International Academy (YIA), a separate educational programme.
History & Leadership
Elliot Miller is Head of School. The campus opened in August 2016, not 2015: a Yantai provincial licence was granted in April 2015, but construction took roughly 16 more months, and a local government WeChat post confirms a September 2016 completion date, consistent with the school’s own timeline. YHIS became an HSK (Chinese-proficiency) testing centre in 2022 and states it was the only testing centre in Yantai able to continue offering HSK testing throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The campus offers multimedia classroom systems and campus-wide wireless access. YHIS shares parts of its wider school community with Yantai International Academy (YIA), a separate educational programme.
Accreditation
YHIS has been Cognia-accredited since 2019, under Cognia’s earlier name AdvancED, and was one of the campuses that participated in the June 2026 LifePlus system review that earned Cognia Accreditation with Distinction. A 2018 report noted the school was working toward WASC accreditation; that process was never confirmed as completed. Recent graduates have attended UC Berkeley, King’s College London, Korea University, the National University of Singapore, Seoul National University, HKUST, University of Washington and Yonsei University — a sample, not a full list.
Admissions and the Guardian Pathway
YHIS publishes the same five-condition list as Tianjin and Chengdu, including the legal-guardian option for families where both parents hold foreign passports.
| Grade Level | Tuition |
|---|---|
| Elementary (Grades 1–5) | RMB 190,000 |
| Middle School (Grades 6–8) | RMB 202,000 |
| High School (Grades 9–12) | RMB 216,000 |
The LifePlus Story: From Leadership Training to One Group
LifePlus is not one school that grew into five. It is two older organisations that merged in 2022, and the schools are the younger half of that story.
Corporate identity. As stated in the schools’ official footers: LifePlus is a registered trademark and trading name of Management Technologies International, based in Newnan, Georgia, USA. Two of today’s five China schools previously carried “MTI” in their names — Tianjin and Qingdao — before adopting their current names.
Vision and values. LifePlus states one vision: to raise up “world-class servant leaders” in every walk of life. It also teaches nine core values known as the 9 Qualities for Life — Purpose, Curiosity, Discernment, Connection, Courage, Compassion, Humility, Persistence and Service — grouped under three words: Learn, Love and Lead. Both the vision and the nine qualities trace back to the LDi era, and student well-being is framed around them across every campus.
Curriculum and Cognia Accreditation
Every LifePlus campus in China teaches the same broad model: an American, English-medium Pre-K–12 education built around an AP® curriculum in the upper grades, rather than IB or A Level. Tianjin publishes 15 AP classes. We could not confirm the AP count at the other four campuses for this guide.
All five campuses are accredited by Cognia, a US-based nonprofit and one of the largest school accreditors globally. Cognia was formed from a merger of three older US regional accreditors — NCA CASI, NWAC and SACS CASI. Most LifePlus campuses reached Cognia accreditation along a similar path: they first earned WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) accreditation, then the network transitioned around 2021.
Cognia Accreditation with Distinction (June 2026) — LifePlus schools announced that the LifePlus system of schools had earned Cognia Accreditation with Distinction. Several campuses participated in the system review, including Qingdao, Wuhan and Yantai. This is a system-level recognition rather than an award received by a single campus.
Accreditation note for anyone comparing older sources: International School of Wuxi briefly held both WASC and Cognia accreditation, from 2021 until its closure in 2024. None of the five schools open today holds both.
One further point all five share: none offer boarding. Every LifePlus campus in China is a day school, with no dormitory option.
What Happened to International School of Wuxi?
International School of Wuxi was the sixth LifePlus campus in China. Its website remains online, frozen as a closing notice: “We’re sad to announce International School of Wuxi closed on June 30, 2024.” No reason beyond that line has been made public.
Founded in partnership with a local operator, DongFang International School.
Earned WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges) accreditation.
Received Cognia accreditation alongside WASC. Its materials state it was the only school in Wuxi with two formal accreditations at that time.
Closed to students, after 17 years of operation.
The Wuxi Municipal Government published a cancellation notice concerning the school’s legal entity, roughly 18 months after teaching ceased.
LifePlus Online Academy
Alongside its five campuses, LifePlus runs the LifePlus Online Academy, which connects students with online educators. On its own site, LifePlus says the academy “equips schools” across MENA and Asia — wording that suggests a school-to-school arrangement rather than a direct family sign-up. It also supplements at least one campus: Qingdao international students can take additional AP subjects through the online academy alongside their on-campus courses. Families outside the network should ask LifePlus directly whether individual enrolment is available.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Alifa Helps International Families Access LifePlus Schools
Five campuses. Five cities. Five sets of documentation requirements. That is exactly the comparison this guide was built to shortcut.
Alifa Education Services helps families verify the current published requirements at each campus, and arranges legal, local guardianship where a guardian arrangement is a fit and the campus accepts one — so a child can enrol even when both parents live abroad.
Alifa Education Services
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