The Lessons Learned; Parents can now live globally without having to ship their kids off to boarding school for a good education.(Cover story)

Byline: Ginanne Brownell with Quindlen Krovatin

Students scurry down the freshly painted hallways, past crayoned drawings and quotes from various Shakespeare plays. They wear navy blue blazers emblazoned with the Harrow insignia, ties and straw hats with blue ribbons around the rim. But these are not the offspring of wealthy Britons attending the north London school that has educated princes and prime ministers for generations: they are the first class to matriculate at Harrow's Chinese-owned franchise in downtown Beijing. The students, all expats, hail from 11 different countries--none of them China. (The government forbids native students under 17 from being educated in foreign-run schools.) They attend classes each day--as well as afternoon activities including calligraphy, chess and fencing--but spend nights and weekends at home with their parents, mostly diplomats and business people. "The uniforms and curriculum are still distinctly British, but we try to make students aware of the world around them with an emphasis on China because it's their home," says history teacher James Timmis. The Beijing school is Harrow's second overseas franchise; it opened one in Bangkok eight years ago. "China seemed like the obvious place," says Barnaby Lenon, the headmaster of Harrow School UK.

One of the biggest challenges facing the new nomads is how to educate their children. Not long ago, the only viable option was to enroll them in boarding schools in Europe or North America. But today's younger and more family-oriented global elites are less willing to live apart from their children just because they might be posted in Mongolia or Mexico for a spell. While some still favor hiring private tutors, top-quality international schools are becoming more prevalent around the world. In addition to Harrow, another British boarding school, Dulwich College, has expanded into China.

At the same time, the International Baccalaureate (IB) ...