A year ago Michael Que Dengfeng launched a website promoting study opportunities in the US to the Chinese market. With 80,000 visits a day and growing, he tells The PIE how his company provides bespoke preparation services for education abroad to students as young as three years old.
The PIE: Tell me about your website and what it does.
MQ: It’s called juesheng.com and we list international education opportunities mostly in the US but we’re looking to expand. It’s very similar to qunar.com which is listed in the States and has been valued at around USD$4bn. We want to do the same in the international education industry. I am one of two founders, the other co-founder, Dixon, is also the CEO and used to be the Vice President of Marketing at qunar.com.
The PIE: What is qunar.com?
MQ: It’s the largest search engine model for tourism in China. Around 86 of their vendors get revenue from Qunar of over USD£1million. And they help their vendors to succeed.
The website goes beyond the conceptual understanding of study abroad. Study abroad is a theme of what we do
The PIE: How many visitors do you have to your website?
MQ: It’s very close to 80,000 daily visitors, although we only started a year ago. The page views are around 220,000 daily.
The PIE: What types of opportunities do you promote- universities, language schools?
MQ: Actually, the website goes beyond the conceptual understanding of study abroad. Study abroad is a theme of what we do. For example, if parents say ‘I want my kid to go to Harvard’ and the kid is three years old – there is a long route to go and you need a strategy on how to place your kid successfully into Harvard. Along this long road you have to, for example, find your kid language teachers, study tours, etc.
The PIE: So you’re offering long-term bespoke services?
MQ: Yes. We don’t focus on the school aspect of international education. We focus on the options. Option one for Chinese kids is to go to Chinese schools. Option two is to go to foreign schools. But if you go to Chinese schools, the industry is not going to help you to apply to Chinese schools, but it’s a long road to go and along the road you have to buy all kinds of things. The same thing if you go to a foreign school– along the road you have to buy different services, products, provided by the vendors.
The PIE: How did you establish the website in the first place – how did you meet the partners in the US, and the prep schools in China?
We’re different from the traditional agent because we’re not just recruiting students for them, we discuss the institution’s vision in the China market
MQ: I had some work experience as a strategy consultant for some American universities like the University of San Francisco and Johnson & Wales University, the business school at Fordham University. Based on my past work helping them to succeed in China and increasing their recruitment from several students to hundreds, I have a vision to share with the partners. We’re different from the traditional agent because we’re not just recruiting students for them, we discuss the institution’s vision in the China market and we help them to transform that vision into a road map and an execution plan in about three to five years. Based on this road map and execution plan, we advise them on how to use our website to succeed in China through the internet.
The PIE: How do you make money?
MQ: Basically we charge by media exposure based on three models. For example, if you come to the China market we expose you to hundreds of media and we charge media exposure fees and campaign fees. We charge CPS: Click Per Sales. We share revenue, we charge CPC [cost per click].
The PIE: You don’t actually charge commission to institutions?
MQ: We charge commission – CPS is a commission-based model.
The PIE: How have you managed to become so widely influential in such a short space of time?
MQ: We are doing the right thing. People believe this is the right way to go, and the capital market supports this idea. So first we get the right direction, people believe the strategy is right. Secondly we get money we need to support growth. Thirdly we have a very good team. Besides Dixon and I we have a strong management team that consists of three Vice Presidents and ten Directors, each of which have very strong backgrounds, so the valuation is basically built upon the team confidence.
The PIE: Do you have readership across the whole of China?
MQ: All over China, yes.
Everyone is buying international brands and that’s the boom, based on affordability. So believe it. It will keep booming
The PIE: What’s your background? Did you study in the US?
MQ: No, I was quite landlocked. I graduated from Peking University. I majored in English Literature, then I spent some years in the education industry and I worked as a strategy consultant for some time. Later I became Deputy General Manager of China Education Service Centre, which has 40 branches in China, and later I was Deputy Vice President of China Education Service Centre. After that I founded this company and Dixon, my colleague, was the first [07:35] investor, and then several months later, he decided to quit qunar.com and join this company as CEO.
The PIE: Do you see the education boom in China continuing for the next five years?
MQ: Of course.
The PIE: There were some reports over here that Chinese students were returning to China and their US education maybe wasn’t as valued as it was five years previously– is there any truth to that?
MQ: I understand the market in a different way. The international education market is not just about teenagers or young people; it’s about everybody. Think about this: if you are a white collar lady, about 30, and suddenly you feel a lot of pressure. You want to spend some time doing nothing, but you don’t feel comfortable about that. So you’re going to search through our website and go ‘Oh– this is a very good English learning opportunity, spending one month in London” and you register for some business English courses.
Another example, my partner has two kids. One is seven, one is four. They are very interested in bringing the two kids to, for example, the US, in Florida, let’s say – to spend six weeks doing language training while they spend their holidays there. Or, some state-owned companies in China which are very wealthy award their best talents to do a certificate somewhere in a top world university. So there are lots of education opportunities, it’s not limited to just registering at a university. Just like 10 years ago, we didn’t buy international brands. But now, everyone is buying international brands and that’s the boom, based on affordability. So believe it. It will keep booming.
The PIE: Any countries in particular? Is the US always the most popular?
The major interests of the Chinese population in terms of international education will be the US and the UK
MQ: The major interests of the Chinese population in terms of international education will be the US and the UK. Next, Australia, Canada. But I believe in the future there is going to be a large variety.
We are doing something that is very interesting called the 10 year Global Civilisation Education-Based Study Tour for families. You can gather several upper-middle class families together, you travel, this year, for example, to Spain, next year Greece, next year the UK, and we provide professors from the top local universities to teach your kids. And that means in 10 years, your kids have a complete picture of global civilisation: history, society, culture, and language.
It can be amazing. And lots of upper-middle class have this affordability. So be more imaginative. Jump out of the old box.
