Cracking the Code: Cambridge Learns How SIS Makes International Education Accessible

Jakarta, Indonesia – 8 September 2025

In a groundbreaking collaboration, the international award-winning SIS Group of Schools has partnered with Cambridge International Education (Cambridge) to demonstrate how high-quality international education can be delivered at affordable levels across diverse communities. This initiative was born out of discussions between SIS Founder & Chairman Jaspal Sidhu and Rod Smith, Cambridge’s Group Managing Director, during his last visit to Indonesia.

Cambridge undertook a rigorous, independent review of selected SIS schools in Indonesia to explore how the group sustains world-class standards while making education more affordable—a challenge not only for school operators, but also for funders and impact-driven organisations worldwide who are seeking proven models that deliver both access and excellence. Led by Ben Schmidt, Director of International Network, senior Cambridge representatives visited contrasting campuses, including SIS South Jakarta, serving a metropolitan community, and SIS Palembang in the island of Sumatra, serving a broader regional population. Their evaluation went far beyond curriculum adoption, engaging directly with school leaders, teachers, parents, and students to assess SIS’s innovative fee models, teacher development practices, and operational strategies.

Key Findings from Cambridge’s Review of SIS:

• Strategic Cambridge Integration – SIS systematically embeds Cambridge Primary, Lower Secondary, and IGCSE programs across campuses, ensuring consistency and excellence.
• Operational Efficiency for Affordability – SIS applies smart teaching models and resource management, proving that costs can be reduced without compromising outcomes.
• Teacher Investment as a Differentiator – Cambridge highlighted SIS’s deep commitment to continuous teacher development through Cambridge training and resources, ensuring long-lasting classroom impact.

Accessible Excellence – A scalable model that balances academic rigor, well-being, and affordability, setting a new benchmark for international education.

SIS has invited Cambridge to share these findings with the international education community, enabling other schools to replicate and adapt this proven model of success. This collaboration builds on SIS’s global recognition, including the prestigious 2019 award from the World Bank (IFC) and the UK’s Financial Times for its groundbreaking and transformational work in education. 

We have successfully reduced school fees through our award-winning Half-Fees Model and our unique EFFECTOR teacher training framework. We proved that the same Cambridge curriculum can be delivered with quality and impact, at lower cost, even in smaller or emerging cities. We invited Cambridge to validate this journey so more schools worldwide can follow suit.

— Jaspal Sidhu, Founder & Chairman, SIS & Inspirasi Group of Schools