Introduction
Shenzhen Academy of International Education (SAIE) is a private school located in Nanshan District, Shenzhen. Its Chinese name is 深圳市博纳学校. Dr. Simon Chen founded the school in 2014. He has two PhDs. One is from Boston University. The other is from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
SAIE delivers a full international curriculum across three programs running at the same time. They are AP, Hong Kong’s HKDSE, and an international arts program. It holds four international accreditations, an unusual combination for one Shenzhen school.
Here is the detail that matters most for ASEAN families. China’s enrollment rules reserve seats at SAIE for middle school and early high school. Only students with foreign passports can apply. Most ASEAN applicants already qualify.
This guide covers what SAIE teaches, what it costs for 2026–2027, who can enroll, and how to apply from abroad.
🏅 Scholarship alert: SAIE is now running an online scholarship entrance exam for international students. There’s no application deadline. See Win a Scholarship to SAIE Shenzhen for details.
Key Takeaways
Foreign-passport students can enroll from Grade 6. SAIE keeps Grade 9 and below for foreign nationals, including holders of Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan passports.
Three curricula run side by side: AP (including the AP Capstone Diploma), HKDSE, and a full International Arts Academy.
Tuition fees for 2026–2027 range from RMB 188,000 to RMB 288,000 per year, depending on the division. Additional costs include boarding, uniforms, and dining charges.
Since 2016, nine graduating classes have received offers from Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, Amherst, and UC Berkeley.
Boarding is priced by weekday only. Families without a local guardian need a weekend and holiday plan.
The campus sits in Nanshan District, Shenzhen’s core technology and business corridor.
SAIE At a Glance
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Chinese Name | 深圳市博纳学校 |
| Founded | Planned 2012, opened 2014 |
| Founder & Principal | Dr. Simon Chen (陈晓民), dual PhD — Boston University (Physics) and UC Santa Barbara (Electrical & Computer Engineering) |
| Location | No. 13 Zhongxiang Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen |
| Divisions | Middle School (Grades 6–8) · High School (Grades 9–12) · International Arts Academy (Grades 9–12) · HKDSE (High School) |
| Curricula | AP · HKDSE · International Arts (A-Level Art & Design, AP Art & Design) |
| Accreditations | WASC · College Board (CEEB 694141) · ACT GAC · Pearson Edexcel (Centre 94558) |
| 2026–2027 Tuition | RMB 188,000–288,000/year depending on division |
| Enrollment Note | Grade 9 and below: foreign-nationality or Hong Kong/Macau/Taiwan passport holders only |
| Admissions Phone | 0755-26602340 / 18300008200 |
| Admissions Email | zsb@usapschool.com |
| Official Website | usapschool.com |
What Is SAIE? History and Accreditation
Dr. Simon Chen founded SAIE. He is a physicist and engineer, not a teacher. The school relies on his background in its story. Dr. Chen has two PhDs. He earned one in physics from Boston University. He got the other in electrical and computer engineering from UC Santa Barbara. He studied under two Nobel laureates along the way.
Before going back to China, he worked as a researcher at Bell Labs. There, he won the President’s Award. He then founded a technology company that a US-listed firm later acquired. Forbes China has since named him one of its “Top 10 Outstanding International School Principals.” Sina named him its “Annual Influential Principal.” He still personally teaches SAIE’s AP Capstone course today.
SAIE opened in the fall of 2014, with prior approval from the Shenzhen Bureau of Education. The school calls its Nanshan District site a “garden campus.” Nanshan is Shenzhen’s central technology and business corridor. Two years later, SAIE’s first graduating class posted strong results. 80% won acceptance into the world’s top 100 universities. 100% won acceptance into the top 75 U.S. universities. The school still points to this as its founding proof of concept.
SAIE’s accreditation stack is what sets it apart on paper. It has four different international authorizations.
WASC
SAIE gained WASC candidacy in July 2016 and full accreditation in June 2019 — among the first international schools in Shenzhen to do so. Reaccredited in 2025 for another six years. Only a small number of Shenzhen schools hold WASC accreditation of this kind.
College Board
Authorized to teach AP courses under CEEB code 694141. Universities around the world fully accept the exam results.
ACT GAC (Global Assessment Certificate)
Official ACT test center. Students can sit the ACT on campus instead of traveling elsewhere.
Pearson Edexcel
Holds Centre Code 94558, supporting the school’s A-Level and HKDSE-adjacent offerings.
SAIE ranks in the top ten international schools in Shenzhen and in the top twenty in Guangdong Province. The school’s own materials don’t name the ranking body behind these figures. Yixiao’s 2021 nationwide ranking put SAIE at 146th place, which is outside the top 70. Rankings change based on the method and year. It’s a good idea to ask the admissions office which ranking they use.
Three Academic Pathways at SAIE
Most Shenzhen international schools commit to one curriculum. SAIE runs three in parallel, and unusually, it lets students cross-register between them.
AP Program
SAIE’s AP division has almost 30 courses. They include math, science, computer science, English, history, social science, and the arts. Classes are small. This helps teachers track each student’s progress closely.
The highlight is the AP Capstone Diploma. It’s a two-year program made up of two courses: AP Seminar and AP Research. The College Board created this as its most research-focused AP credential. SAIE is one of the few schools in Shenzhen that offers it. Dr. Chen teaches the course himself. In 2025, two SAIE students earned the school’s first AP Capstone diplomas — among the first in all of Shenzhen.
HKDSE Program
SAIE relaunched its HKDSE (HK DSE) track in 2024, marking the school’s tenth anniversary. The program pairs experienced local teachers trained in Hong Kong with SAIE’s international teachers who follow the American curriculum.
Compulsory Subjects
Electives
Chinese language support is available for students whose first language is not Chinese. Universities across mainland China, Hong Kong, and beyond recognize HKDSE results — SAIE names Cambridge, Yale, NYU, Sydney, Toronto, NUS, HKU, and Tsinghua as examples. The school achieved a “Grand Slam” with its last nine HKDSE graduating classes: every class got into all five top universities in Hong Kong.
International Arts Academy
Professor Pan Hua leads SAIE’s arts division. He is a film studies professor at the Communication University of China. The arts program runs alongside SAIE’s academic tracks, not as an afterthought.
Students in Grades 6 to 10 learn Music-Art-Dance (MAD), design, and technology. From Grade 9, students can specialize in AP Art and Design (2D and 3D), AP Art History, or Honors Music. The professional program includes IGCSE and A-Level exams covering A-Level Art and Design and IGCSE Art and Design, alongside fashion design studio work and courses in film or theater following an IBDP-aligned syllabus. A university application portfolio course rounds out the senior years.
Cross-Program Flexibility
SAIE lets students borrow courses across its three tracks. An AP-track student can take an A-Level course. An HKDSE student can explore arts electives. The school sees this as a way to create a unique university application — and a way to avoid tying students to a single system at enrollment.
Beyond the Classroom
SAIE belongs to Global Online Academy (GOA), a private-school consortium. Membership offers students access to over 50 extra online courses. These courses include topics such as computer science, global studies, health sciences, psychology, and business. That’s a wider range than a single campus could offer alone.
Project-based learning (PBL) is a standing part of SAIE’s model, not an occasional add-on. Past student projects include making kimchi in a food-science unit, dissecting frogs, and building a rooftop garden. SAIE reports ten or more interdisciplinary courses running each semester. One recent example paired the French language with vocal music. Another paired economics with English composition.
Students must complete CAS, which stands for Creativity, Activity, and Service, to graduate. It’s based on the framework used by IB schools. Students must complete 150 hours from Grades 9 to 11. This time is split evenly among all three categories. Recent CAS projects feature a wildlife documentary in Western Australia — ASDAN-certified. There’s also a rural outreach program in Hainan.
SAIE students take part in academic contests. These include the American International Public Policy Forum Essay and Debate Contest, the Brain Bee, and the Euclid Math Contest. Since 2025, SAIE has formally rolled out Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) across daily teaching. The school also runs a continuous, parent-visible feedback system, built around four steps: review the last feedback cycle, acknowledge progress, set the next goal, and loop parents into the conversation.
Who Can Enroll? Admissions Eligibility for International Families
This detail matters most for ASEAN families weighing SAIE. Look at the school’s own 2026–2027 enrollment table. Grade 9 and below is open only to students holding a foreign passport or a Hong Kong, Macau, or Taiwan passport. This rule reflects Chinese government policy on foreign schooling during compulsory education years.
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