More than 60 experienced college counselors from the international curriculum centers of over 20 leading schools across China came together at Dipont Huayao Collegiate School Kunshan on May 16, 2024, for two days of discussion on international curricula and university guidance.
Expertise in university guidance
Opening the conference, Dipont founder and CEO Benson Zhang looked back on the history of international high school education and college counseling in China, and on two decades of innovation at Dipont.
In 2008, Dipont became the first organization to bring a full US-style high school college counseling system to China. Through its college counseling program, this approach was introduced at the international curriculum centers of nearly 30 leading high schools, including the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, Nanjing Foreign Language School, Hangzhou Foreign Languages School and the High School Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It marked a turning point for international university guidance in China.
College counseling helps students understand themselves better and see university as one important stage in a longer journey, guided by their own goals and values. It has also created a new generation of professional counselors in China, and built closer understanding and cooperation between Chinese high schools and universities overseas. Today, Dipont’s approach has grown from a focus on university admissions to a broader focus on career and life planning.
Support for every student
Dipont aims to offer Chinese students diverse, personalized learning opportunities, with a strong focus on the learning process itself. Its college counselors play a central part in this: helping students discover their strengths, find their direction and access opportunities overseas, while drawing on their own international outlook and cross-cultural experience to help students prepare for life at university abroad. Behind every student who reaches their chosen university is a counselor who has supported them over many years.
Learning from each other
Over the two days, roundtable discussions and mixed-group sessions encouraged everyone to take part. Counselors shared their practice and reflected on how to develop their professional skills further. As Benson Zhang said in his opening speech, counselors need to stay curious, keep learning and keep developing their expertise, so they can help students meet the challenges of applying to university.
A true learning community
The conference reflected Dipont’s commitment to building a genuine learning community, in which counselors share resources, information, tools and insights into the latest trends, and grow together. Working side by side with its partner schools, Dipont will continue to raise the quality of international education it offers Chinese families.
