Private school ownership and management may look the same from the outside however there are a number of different structures that exist for the ownership and operation of a school.
Most private branded schools are operated under either a lease, management contract or franchise, or a combination of these options. For each of these models there is most often a separation between the investment in the real estate element (PropCo) and the operation (OpCo) and/or branding of the business element.
Schools and operators prefer to have models that are ‘capital light’ and partnership with real estate investors makes sense. Private school ownership models are different in some locations but there are a variety of ways to structure the business model in order to achieve long term success.
The school name is unique and created independently or shared through a partnership agreement with an existing school. What can often be misleading is the inference that ‘Brand Name School A’ in the UK, USA, Australia and Canada is actually the same school in a new country.
Brand licensing agreements are popular but what value is that ‘sign on the wall’ if there is no quality assurance or processes in place to deliver the same brand standards. It is actually rare that the school is directly involved in the management, supervision and operation of the overseas school.
In many cases an agreement has been made for use of the name and then a system of expectations or KPIs are applied then checked from time to time. (To be fair some are changing their models to correct these challenges)
