Cernet, the China Education and Research Network purchased the former Verizon campus in Marlborough, MA and will open the first Chinese boarding school in the United States. Cernet likes the location based on Boston’s role as a higher education hub.

The 25 acres campus “includes 223 hotel rooms, an auditorium, conference rooms, a laundry room, a cafeteria, a fitness room and a swimming pool.” (Eastern promise: Chinese company opens American education base in Marlborough, Metro Daily News)

A Chinese ISP, Cernet is already in partnership with UMass in providing online credit to students in China; UMass will partner in the new venture preparing Chinese students for entry into American colleges and universities.

Top Chinese universities are over subscribed and admission hinges on a single test. UMass China Institute Executive Director Allan Guo explained to  WBUR’s Deborah Becker:

“The national exam is sudden death game. You go in there two days, yes or no. If you get sick, didn’t sleep, they’re gonna fail…Is it difficult for a student from China where the focus is on memorizing. We have to memorize a whole book, Deborah.”

The more well rounded American approach to college admission will provide a borader array of college options. The program will cost about $35,000 a year with the first class of 60-80 students arriving this fall.