Page 9 - StudyTravel Magazine July 2014 Issue

neWS By MattHeW Knott
language secondary tertiary language
ISIS Education partners No great recovery for English uK in 2013
with equity firm
ENGLISH uK www.englishuk.com member schools had a respectively; the Middle East
mixed year in 2013, with student numbers up but average (excluding Saudi Arabia) increased
ISIS EDuCATIoN GRouP www.isisgroup.co.uk, stays declining, according to association survey data unveiled 24 per cent to become the third
a UK-based provider of English language, sixth at the annual English UK AGM. largest market.
form and educational tour programmes, has Looking back at ten years of
announced that mid-market private equity firm English UK, Millns welcomed
Bowmark Capital has purchased a minority the growth of membership to 478
stake in the company. current members. He said there
The development capital funding will be used had been success in reducing the
to expand the range of English language schools, size of the non-accredited sector
grow the number of university programmes and to around 150 schools. “We are
further invest in the group’s global marketing pressing for accreditation as a
network. ISIS, founded in 1991 by David tony Millns at the english uK agM license to operate, based on the
Brown and Robert Darrell, currently operates principle of protecting students
six language schools, including acquisitions in In his final AGM presentation as Chief Executive, Tony and the UK’s reputation for quality,
the UK and Canada over the last 18 months, and Millns said on the face of it 2013 looked like a successful which remains our largest selling
recently launched its first pathway programme year, but a like-for-like comparison of private sector centres point internationally,” he added.
with De Montfort University in Leicester, UK. operating in 2012 and 2013 revealed a 17 per cent increase in Presentations at the AGM
David Brown, Joint CEO of ISIS, said, students, but only a one per cent increase in student weeks. included the Italian PON scheme
“We have recently made several acquisitions and Across all 390 private sector members there was a 1.6 per for 2014, a discussion on visa
attracted a number of excellent specialist staff. cent decline in student weeks per centre; the 86 state sector processing, and a session on
We felt the time was right to secure capital that members fared better with a 6.2 per cent increase in student influencing the political agenda
could help us achieve our growth ambitions week per centre. “So more students in total, but all staying for before the 2015 general election –
in both the higher education and English a shorter period of time,” said Millns, who attributed this to in which a government MP urged
language sectors. We believe that there is a real greater cost and time pressures students are facing. He added schools to provide as much data as
opportunity for a mid-sized operator to become the junior market accounted for 23 per cent of student weeks. possible to candidates, warning
a genuine alternative to the large multinationals Italy and Spain remained the top two providers of few were aware of the scale of the
that straddle the upper end of our industry.” students, despite student week falls of six and 16 per cent ELT industry.

language language associated
Australia’s Elicos sector Liden & Denz

becomes TELC
records bumper growth centre

THE LIDEN & DENZ Language
THE ENGLISH LANGuAGE sector in Australia growth in total student weeks, Centres http://lidenz.ru in St.
experienced 19 per cent growth in student which rose to 1,912,013 last year. Petersburg, Moscow and Riga
numbers and 25 per cent growth in student Elicos enrolments increased have all been granted licenses to
weeks, as well as increases in other key across most visa types: student become the first telc www.telc.net
indicators, according to the survey of 2013 visas grew by 21 per cent (+16,006 examination centres for Russian in
results released by sector peak body English students) and accounted for 62 per Russia and Latvia.
Australia www.englishaustralia.com.au. cent of all students (a slight increase over 2012); students The telc examinations are
The annual report on Elicos markets revealed holding visitor visas increased by 13 per cent (+3,160); and used in over 2,000 centres across
that student enrolments grew to 147,828 in working holiday visas jumped up by 25 per cent (+4,303). 20 countries and are aligned with
2013, a 19 per cent rise compared with 2012 and China remained the strongest source market in 2013 Common European Framework of
the third highest total ever recorded (behind the with an 11 per cent increase in student numbers – 17 per Reference for Languages (CEFR);
peak years of 2008 and 2009). cent of the total Elicos market, with 88 per cent of Chinese the Russian test is available at A1,
Explaining the substantial growth, Sue students using a student visa. Japan maintained second place A2, B1 and B2 levels. The three
Blundell, Executive Director of English with eight per cent growth, with the visitor visa accounting Liden & Denz centres have passed
Australia, said, “I think it is a combination of for 51 per cent of Japanese students. Korea was the third the necessary on-site inspections
a range of things: improved exchange rates, largest source market, registering six per cent growth, with and 15 teachers have been trained
comprehensive work rights, improved post- 45 per cent of Koreans using working holiday visas. and certified by telc to run the
study opportunities, streamlined visas for Two of the strongest growth countries within the top Russian language tests.
packaged Elicos, and ‘negative’ developments in ten were the long-haul Latin American source countries of Julie Voevodina, Liden and
competitor countries. A significant proportion Brazil, which increased by 1,719 students (+21 per cent), Denz’s Managing Director, said
of the growth is in English language packaged and Colombia, which provided 1,475 more students than there was there was big demand
with higher education.” English Australia in 2012 – a rise of 24 per cent. “A lot of the growth from for the test. “It is a very good
member schools accounted for 83 per cent of Brazil is through the Science without Borders programme,” alternative to the purely academic
total Elicos enrolments in the survey. said Blundell, adding that many university language centres TKRI exam. TKRI is fine if
Average course length increased from 12.3 were now receiving their first ever students from Brazil. The you want to study at a Russian
weeks in 2012 to 12.9 weeks in 2013 – the Central and South America region as a whole rose by 19 per university. telc is more for practical
longest ever recorded – leading to a 25 per cent cent in 2013. and job-related purposes.”

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