The country's first high school established by schools from China and the US has begun accepting applications for its inaugural semester in September, the school's principal said at a press conference Tuesday.

Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School, a three-year boarding school in Minhang district, will be open to students from the Chinese mainland and other countries, said Brantley Turner, the school's vice principal.

The school was jointly created by Shanghai Qibao High School and the Dwight School, a private school based in New York City.

"The school, considered the high school version of New York University Shanghai, aims to make students more competitive by helping them understand global communications and cooperation in an international setting," said Yang Weiren, head of the international exchange and cooperation department of the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission.

The school also gives the city's expatriate community an educational option that offers a more balanced local and international experience, Turner said. It also provides a channel for overseas high school students who want to come to Shanghai.

Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School plans to admit 100 students from Shanghai and 50 students from other countries or other regions in China, said Qiu Zhonghai, the chair of the school's board of directors. These students will be divided into about six classes, where they need to take core courses, including the Chinese language, geography, history and politics.

The school's math classes will follow the Chinese curriculum.

"The idea is to have everything as rich and developed as possible," Turner told the Global Times.

Qiu said that the school's graduates will be able to apply to universities in the US, with the assistance of their teachers, or they can take the national college entrance examinations in China.

Upon graduation, students will be eligible for several diploma options. Students can receive a Dwight New York diploma, the Shanghai Qibao Dwight diploma, or the International Baccalaureate Diploma.

The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP), a two-year program, provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into higher education, and is accepted by many universities worldwide.

The school's tuition, which has not been officially announced, has been estimated to run between 120,000 yuan ($19,526) and 150,000 yuan per year.

It is less expensive than the tuition for the Dwight School in New York.