Page 10 - StudyTravel Magazine February 2018 Issue

NEwS studytravel MagaZIne february 2018

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DIvERGING 2017 TRENDS FOR ElT GIANTS IvERGING 2017 TRENDS FOR ElT GIANTS
The UK’s ELT sector showed strong signs of
However, international student enrolment at owever, international student enrolment at
recovery in the summer of 2017, according to data H
Intensive English Programs (IEPs) in the USA
collected by English UK www.englishuk.com, but a Intensive English Programs (IEPs) in the USA
similar survey of autumn enrolments by EnglishUSA continued to decrease in 2017, according to a
members revealed heavy losses. member survey conducted by IEP association
The English UK Quarterly Intelligence Cohort EnglishUSA www.englishusa.org.
(QUIC) scheme, recorded a total of 365,759 Completed by 125 member IEPs, the 2017 Fall
students weeks in Q3 (July-to-September) for the Enrolment Trends survey found that more than
124 reporting members. two thirds of respondents (69.6 per cent) suffered
Of schools that reported for both 2016 and 2017, a decline in enrolments compared with the same
there was overall growth of 17 per cent in student semester in the previous year.
weeks (from 183,203 to 214,851). Just over 18 per cent said that enrolments
Jodie Gray, English UK’s Head of Market increased, while recruitment stayed the same for
Development, who oversees QUIC, said she was the remainder.
cautiously optimistic about the fi gures. “We are For the member schools that experienced a
seeing early signs of a recovery in the market, and decrease, 45 per cent said that they declined by
of course the big question is around whether this between 26 and 50 per cent, while a further 40 per
is solely driven by the exchange rate. We believe cent cited drops between 11 and 25 per cent.
members may be innovating more, and taking Reasons cited by EnglishUSA members
advantage of destination promotion and better data included the US political climate, the strong dollar,
to build a fi rm base for recovery.” scholarship cutbacks, visa policy and increased
Italy, traditionally the largest source market, global competition.
provided almost 60,000 student weeks for the In StudyTravel Magazine’s Global Market Report
reporting schools in Q3, followed by China (43,000) on trends in the ELT industry for the year 2016
and Saudi Arabia (34,000). English UK said 72 per (see December 2017, p.24), the USA suffered
cent of student weeks came via agents. loss of market share in student weeks and was
In English UK’s full-year, all-member data for leapfrogged by Australia by the measure of
2016, there was a 13 per cent decline in student student numbers.
weeks compared with the previous year. bit.ly/2Bbe590 (USA)
bit.ly/2zYJk69 (UK)
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