Brighton College to open school in Osaka with Kansai Gaidai University from 2028

Brighton College will open a school in Hirakata, in Japan's Osaka Prefecture, in September 2028 in partnership with Kansai Gaidai University. The plan was made public on 14 October 2026.

Brighton College Kansai Gaidai will be set up and run by the university, with Brighton College supplying the curriculum, International School Times reported. A prep school for Years 1 to 6 will open first, in the International Communication Center on Kansai Gaidai's Nakamiya Campus, with room for 432 pupils.

A senior school and sixth form for Years 7 to 13 is due to follow in September 2029 on the university's Gakkentoshi Campus, with 672 places. International School Times reported that the senior opening could slip to September 2030. Prep pupils will all attend as day pupils; the senior school will also take boarders.

Pupils will work towards IGCSEs and then A levels in the sixth form. The partners have not published fees.

Richard Cairns, chief executive and principal of the Brighton College family of schools, said the two campuses were "well placed to attract children" from across the region. He said he expected demand from across Asia, Tes reported.

The Japanese school would be the 18th in the Brighton College group, Tes reported, with a 19th due to be unveiled in November. The group announced two schools in Saudi Arabia in September, and just over a year ago it set out plans for campuses in Madrid, Rome and Lisbon.

Brighton is the latest English independent school to head for Japan. Rugby and Malvern already run schools in Tokyo, and Gordonstoun plans to open in Wakayama next September, Tes reported.

Prospectus profiles one Brighton College school, Brighton College Dubai, which Bloom Education opened in Al Barsha South in 2018 as a partnership school. It teaches about 1,440 pupils aged 3 to 18 through the English National Curriculum to A level and costs between US$18,300 and US$30,200 a year all in. Its all-in fee for the oldest year group is AED 111,062 in 2026/27, up 5 per cent on the year before.