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ounded in 1994, the Ameson Education and Cultural Exchange Foundation is a non-profit, non- governmental organization that is committed to the promotion and implementation of educational exchanges in China and abroad. Its honorary Chairman is Dr. Boutros Boutros Ghali, the former Secretary General of the United Nations.

Ameson is headquartered in Washington, DC, in the Ronald Reagan building. In China, Ameson maintains operations centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing. In addition, the Ameson Foundation maintains a network of 32 test and screening centers embedded within elite public high schools all over China.

This network organizes pre-screening tests for elite Chinese students, establishes cooperative programs, and also provides the means to promote educational and cultural exchanges.

The Ameson Mechanism

Over the years, Ameson has been building a comprehensive system to identify the best and brightest of China’s students and connect them with top universities.

• Screen and Select: Using our extensive network, the top students from hundreds of China’s leading high schools are identified and screened through a series of applications designed to assess student aptitude.
• Educate: Different admissions standards mean that students going abroad require a different sort of knowledge than students applying to Chinese universities. For this reason, the Ameson Foundation’s American High School (+AP) Program has opened a series of magnet schools teaching California AP curriculum in an all-English environment which gives students the foundation they need to succeed abroad.
• Test:The Ameson Scholastic Test (AST) has been designed in cooperation with leading western and Chinese scholars specifically for Chinese students as an alternative to tests such as TOEFL, IELTS or the SAT. Conducted in English, the test assesses student aptitude in English, mathematics, and physics, and is currently accepted by 14 Western Universities.
• Advise: Ameson programs such as the annual Ameson Chinese Elite event, the Ameson Summer Camp and a team of college counselors help students find schools that match their interests and ability levels.
• Apply: The Ameson Chinese Elite Identification System, China Equitable Information Management Service and our team of college counselors rigorously verify all admissions documents and ensure that students have prepared a complete application that reflects their true ability, with every application tailored to meet the receiving university’s specific requirements.

The Ameson Foundation’s Global Network

Aside from the large number of Chinese high schools we work with, The Ameson Foundation also owes its reputation to projects accomplished with the help of leading scholars, government officials and elite universities around the world.

For example, in 2004, the Ameson Foundation signed an agreement with the University of Cambridge to help them identify China's most promising candidates for overseas study.

The early successes of Ameson's work with the University of Cambridge inspired a number of other elite schools join the program. Today, the Ameson Chinese Elite Identification Scheme now boasts 14 world-leading schools as members. These schools are:

The university members of ACIES include University of Cambridge (UK), University of Warwick (UK), University of Bristol (UK), University of Durham (UK), University of Edinburgh (UK), Aston University (UK), Royal Holloway, University of London (UK), University of Glasgow (UK), University of Melbourne (AUS), University of Auckland (NZ) and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore).

These international connections represent a huge collaborative effort. By working together we have extended our reach far beyond what is possible for individual institutions or organizations. Here is a brief overview of some other groups that we have developed relationships with, in pursuit of our core mission:

Chinese government officials

Ameson Vice Chairman Prof. Sean Zhang with Mr. Zhou Ji,
the former Chinese Minister of EducationNone of Ameson's culture and education exchange initiatives would be possible without the generous support of the Chinese government.

For example, in 2003, Ameson assisted in building relationships between the University of Oxford (UK) and McGill University (Canada) with the Liaoning Provincial Education Department, the Jilin Provincial Education department and the Anhui Provincial Education Department in order to host various education international symposiums.

In March 2009, Ameson worked with the Beijing Ministry of Education to organize the Sino-US Seminar on Diversity in High Schools. Among the Chinese officials in attendance was Ms. Chen Xiaoya, the Deputy Minister of Education; Tao Xiping, the adviser to National School Inspector and Vice-Chairman of The Chinese Society of Education; and Mr. Dai Jiagan, Director of the National Education Examinations Authority.

World-leading education experts

Dignitaries attending the Nanjing forumEvery year, the Ameson Foundation welcomes dozens of world-leading education experts to attend symposiums in China and meet with elite Chinese high school students.

As one example, in 2011, the Ameson Foundation organized the first symposium on the AP curriculum to be held in China. With over a million students currently enrolled, China is one of the fastest growing markets for AP curricula, one which presents its own unique challenges. The symposium focused on how to localize and adapt AP course material for Chinese students and create a student-centered classroom.

As a second example, at the Nanjing Forum on the Reform and Development of Sino-American Secondary Education those in attendance included: Prof. Robert B.Schwartz, Professor of Practice and Academic Dean of Harvard Graduate School of Education; Dr. Steve Seleznow, Education Program Director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Dr. Allan Alson, Associate Director of Leadership Development for the Consortium for Educational Change; and Dr. Evan Glazer, Principal of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.

Cultural Exchange

The Ameson Foundation also regularly coordinates and organizes educational and cultural exchange activities between America, Oceania, Europe and Asia. It also contributes to a number of programs in China that promote the study of world cultures and languages. These efforts are designed to:

• Stimulate and develop relevant educational programs
• Develop and allocate educational and cultural resources that benefit parties from both East and West
• Establish, develop and promote an international educational platform that shares resources to achieve common goals
• Bring together world-leading scholars and education officials through international symposiums on education, culture and economics