EUR 16.5 M revenues for the International American School of Bucharest in 2016. New hi-tech centre investment planned

The International American School of Bucharest is getting on with entreprises this year, after investing EUR 7 M in 2016 in building from the scratch a new educational campus for pre-school kids (aged from 2 to 5), which is expected to be commissioned in August. The new early age educational centre’s cost mounted to EUR 6.5, while another half of million of euro was to equip and modernize the classrooms with cutting-edge technology devices, to revamp the physics lab and the new library.

The AISB plans to invest more for the 2017/2018 academic year in the school’s infrastructure by building a Design and Engineering Centre following a EUR 2 M investment.

The Design and engineering center is planned to start in August, with the construction expected to be available by next spring. This is the first such centre developed in Romania.

“The centre is especially designed for what we think our students will need for the so-called 21^st century school. It will be a center for robotics, multi media, communications, music labs etc. I am aware that automation and the idea of communications and creativity is where the future lies,” said Robert Brindley, the AISB director in a press conference, who also informed the centre will be erected after the plans of architects from Milan.

According to Catalina Gradescu, manager of admissions & external relations, the new hi-tech centre will also be shaped taking into account the staff and students’ suggestions. “We are going to consult with our teacher and students, to ask them what does the centre look in their mind.”

The centre will have 12 teaching spaces to accommodate about 150 pupils in a roughly 3,500 square metres area.

EUR 16.5 M revenues in 2016, EUR 1.14 M paid for property tax

The AISB revenues in 2016-end mounted to about EUR 16.5 M, with similar revenues being expected for this year. 65% of incomes were spent on salaries and benefits for the staff, which counts 22 people of 16 nationalities. Most of the teachers are from USA (42), Romania (22) and UK (17). 9% of the expenses went to utilities, transportation and maintenance, while another 8% went to instructional materials.

The financial results revealing the excess revenues over expenses showed a considerable change from FYE 2016 which was due to the settlement of the ongoing tax dispute with the municipality of Voluntari. More precisely, 7% of the revenues in 2016 were paid as property taxes, about EUR 1.14 M.

Director Grindely says that despite the 2003 agreement with the Romanian Government that AISB is tax exempted, there was a tax payment issue over the years and so the property taxes were paid.

“In 2016 I convinced the board to pay those taxes to close that chapter, for I couldn’t see any resolution. You have to pay respect to Romanian law even though technically we should have paid,” he said.

High demand from the Romanians to enroll at AISB. ‘Romania is on the map’                                                               Money from the tuition (which mounted to about EUR 13 M last year) is permanently directed to investments for raising the educational actions, says director Brindley, who added that another priority is to select teachers in order to provide the AISB students with the highest studies standards.

In her turn, Catalina Gradescu informed that this year the enrollment requests at AISB was 20% higher than in the previous years and that the admission list is already closed for the 2017/2018 academic year. Most of the requests come from the Romanian families, with 50 such requests on an annual basis. As there is a 30% quota for each nationality, AISB will be able to receive only 5% of the eligible candidates.

There were 823 students of 56 nationalities enrolled at the 2016-2017 academic year start, with 654 of them returning students and 169 new students. Most of them are of Romanian nationality (34%), followed by US pupils (15%), Turkish (5%), Israelis (5%) and German (4%). The tuition fee is ranging from EUR 6,868 to EUR 20,000.

20 Romanians students have scholarships, for whom the AISB is paying the tuition fee for 4-5 years.

“They are great kids, highly intelligent, highly motivated. The scholarship covers for EUR 18,000, quite an investment by the school, but I think is critical as they get to study abroad and usually they come back to Romania to implement their knowledge. 50% come back to Romania,” said AISB director.

The AISB representatives argue that Romania is seen as a stable, safe country and more and more expats choose to relocate here with their jobs also partly due to the existence of a proper school in compliance with their high educational expectations.

“Big corporation appoint regional managers who can work either in Turkey or Romania or Bulgaria. Many times they choose to be relocated in Romania because of the school. We received very good signs regarding Romania, that Bucharest is a wonderful city, a safe city. It’s a good sign for our country,” said Gradescu.

“Last year we had 100 teachers applying for only one position at AISB. So, Romania is on the map,” added director Brindley.