Masha, I've forgotten to follow up more appropriately on your post. My two year old son bothered me as I was writting. Here's more on GAC assessments, local high schools curriculum and their cooperation with foreign programs for aboard studies.

On GAC assessments, they are to be carried out by foreign teachers at centers and then moderated in the centers by their Directors of Studies there. That's to be done as a team work in between DoSs and teachers. Then, these assessments are to be followed up to the local (mainland) headquarters where the Regional Academic Manager (also local unfortunately) is to further moderate these assessments of GAC students. After that moderations and if there're no objections from the local GAC centers, the GAC students' assessments scores are input in the students' files (iTap) for the GPA and western uni applications. In the event of GAC centers' objections to local headquarters moderations, the GAC students' assessments are to be sent and moderated by the Australian headquarters at the ACT Education Solution Limited company which by the way is the subsidiary of the ACT parent company in the US. From my experience, we've had some objections to our local headquarters and they've lost their face before as the scores where put back to "normal". That's actually one of the reasons the GAC Nanning has been black written/listed on that link as we've awared lower scores than some other mainland GAC centers (not black listed on the link). What's bothering is on this process that more and more, if not all now, mainland GAC centers opt for a local Director of Studies as it apparently is a local regulation and even more bothering in my case of the GAC Chongqing because the center never sent any of my GAC students' assessments to the headquarters and the local center manager, that acted as a DoS, never discussed the moderations with me either. Go figure why they are not blacklisted and shown as an example to others such as the GAC Nanning.

With regards to local high schools, their cooperation and your connection to them, I really am sceptical about running these not so fine academic programs along the local high school curriculum. One thing is that if an academic company such as ACT-GAC or yours want to run these prep courses, they'll need their licenses (local) and they'll need to provide their academic materials prior to the license issuance. Not that I want to get political on here, but any such company/center will have to prove its academic program does not interfere with the local customs, regulations, education etc. Anotherwords, all your course books'll have to prove that and you won't be able to replace them until you get a permit to do so. This is a pretty complex process but I am quite sure that you may re-edit or issue new versions of your books on yearly basis, but it's seemingly unclear how much you can change. The GAC edits new versions of their 3 moduled course books, although the changes are minimal and what's in the books is "rotten potatoes" mixed with "sticky rice". One point that I want to make here also is that these prep course academic material usually, and in GAC for sure, contradicts the local educational standards and their own curriculum, but again I do not mean to politicize on here. Running these courses along their own at the local high schools here is like ... eating zongzi (traditional Chinese sticky rice in a leaf) with a rotten potato and ketchup inside of it. Local students have also their local goals and if they are in the third grade of their high schools, they'll have so much to do to prepare for their local college entry exams (that've just happened here). Just imagine giving your students a research paper presentation for something when they are getting ready for their local tests here. Are we to believe these youngsters are going to do both jobs well? I don't believe it and neither do the local high school officials in many places. So, and to contradict you, Masha, not so many mainland GAC centers are on high school campuses. They are at local unis just as the GAC Nanning, Guangzhou or Harbin. The GAC Chongqing has little to do with any local high school as it is running its (very) independant programs with the first and second year high school dropouts that'll only go back to their schools to pick up (buy) their grad certs. I'd like to know which high school official would agree to our western uni prep couses that we're talking about here. If there're any, then my hats down to them..and i'll bow as deep as i can. I've heard of Chengdu's high schools but i've had no chance to bow from Chongqing.

Darn, posting on public forums may have cost me some opportunities and never mind my GAC Chongqing's highly negative "recommandation". But isn't it good to share our experiences on? What would these forums be for then, if we didn't? Look at so many GAC centers around (see the link) and if you are at one, you have virtually no opportunity to talk to other centers' staff..well, unless you are a local.

Cheers and beers