City invests €750,000 in International School of Ghent

The City of Ghent is investing €750,000 in a new building for the International School of Ghent (ISG). The school was established in 2012 for the children of foreign staff in academic institutions and technology companies from West and East Flanders.

The school, currently located at the Leopolds Barracks near Citadelpark, first opened its doors to 10 children between the ages of 2.5 and 12. This school year, ISG houses 50 students. The new building, on De Pintelaan in the south of the city near the university hospital, will accommodate 150 students and be ready by September of 2016.

ISG was founded to ensure that foreign workers and firms would not discount East and West Flanders because of a lack of an English-speaking primary and secondary school. “Ghent is one of the world’s top locations for biotechnology,” said Ghent’s alderwoman of civil affairs,  Sofie Bracke. “International education is certainly one of the elements that play a role for companies or researchcentres considering setting up shop here.”