Cities / Shenzhen / BASIS International School Shenzhen
BASIS International School Shenzhen
The first BASIS International School outside the United States, opened in Nanshan in 2015 and now operating from a purpose-built campus completed in 2023. An American curriculum with AP courses serves around 1,500 students from Pre-K through Grade 12.
In brief
An academically intense American AP school in Nanshan, the flagship of BASIS in China, with university outcomes that rank among the strongest in the city and a workload to match.
BASIS Shenzhen opened in 2015 as the first BASIS campus in China and runs an American curriculum heavy on AP, with around 1,500 students and COGNIA accreditation. Scott Adams leads. The reported AP averages sit well above the global mean and the 2025 graduating class placed roughly 88 percent of students into US Top 30 or UK Top 2 universities. Fees run from around 264,000 to 326,000 RMB.
The school suits ambitious, academically resilient students, and is very effective at pushing them through demanding AP loads to selective US destinations. The recurring counterweight from teachers and parents is intensity, with reports of high stress on both sides of the desk and concerns that students who cannot sustain the pace can struggle before the school adjusts. Families weighing BASIS Shenzhen are usually also considering ISNS, Shekou International School and the Shenzhen American School.
Fees
| Fee | Age | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| KG1-KG2 (age 3-4) | 3 | Annual | CN¥264,160 |
| KG3 (age 5) | 5 | Annual | CN¥282,200 |
| Grades 1-5 | 6 | Annual | CN¥305,540 |
| Grades 6-8 | 11 | Annual | CN¥312,970 |
| Grades 9-12 | 14 | Annual | CN¥326,760 |
| Application Fee (non-refundable) | One-time | CN¥2,000 |
Reviews
- BASIS Shenzhen draws considerably more critical online commentary than the Guangzhou campus, almost all of it from teachers. Treat the staff signal as context for how the school is run, not a direct parent verdict.
- Multiple ex-teachers describe the school harshly. One reported having an offer rescinded the day they were going to accept. Another said the school employs a lot of teachers who are simply there because they're controllable. Glassdoor is repeatedly cited by commenters as the place to look. Reports of complaints about workload and pay surface from late 2023. One commenter spit out their drink on seeing BASIS Shenzhen listed positively elsewhere.
- A small countervailing parent signal exists. One Reddit user reports a friend's family relocated from the UK in mid-2024 and the children love it. The school also reports an AP pass rate above the US national average and 2023 university outcomes weighted heavily towards top thirty US universities.
- Across the BASIS China network, Shenzhen's reputation is the weakest. Parents weighing the school should treat staff continuity and the rescinded-offer accounts as the live questions, alongside the academic results.
- ISD has no parent reviews.
Head of school
Dr. Scott Adams
Dr. Scott Adams has served as a teacher, department head, head of division and head of school in top-tier USA college prep schools, including Punahou School in Hawaii and Charlotte Country Day School in North Carolina, as well as exceptional international schools around the world, including TASIS England in London and American School in Japan in Tokyo. His commitment to school communities—students, faculty, staff, boards, and parents—has steadfastly focused on servant leadership, doing everything possible for students and faculty to attain excellence and achieve beyond their perceived limits. Dr. Adams’s educational background includes an undergraduate degree from San Diego State University and a master’s degree from UC Berkeley.
Accreditations
- Cognia 01
Academic results
- Class of 2025 (on 2024 exams) 169 scores of 5, 86 scores of 4, 24 scores of 3
- Result 100% pass rate in Biology, Calculus AB/BC, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, European History, Human Geography, and Economics.