Page 9 - StudyTravel Magazine November/December 2022 Issue

eDucator Q&a ageNts oN...

INDustry speaKs NEW SCHOOL PARTNERS

This issue, cheryl delk le good, Executive
Director of englishusA, talks about a new Lars Zimmermann,
project to enhance agent engagement and Academic Embassy
highlights current challenges facing members. academic-embassy.
de, Germany

“We usually establish between
three and fi ve partnerships each
year. We make sure we diversify our
partnerships in order to off er our
students a wide-faceted selection
of institutions. We did lose some
partners throughout the pandemic
that opted to save money and take
www.englishusa.org over the marketing and recruitment
execdirector@englishusa.org completely. Hybrid and/or all virtual
conferences were the platform
Number of members: 213 where these new partnerships were
Types of members: US-based post-secondary English established and developed. Just like
language programs with all new partnerships it takes a
while for the fruits of the hard work
What has EnglishUSA been up to over the last 12 months? to come in.”
We’re at 213 member programs, expecting about 220-230. We have lost
members this past year due to budget constraints and some program
closures. We have our new Partner Agency engagement model starting. Our Onur Yaldizkaya,
Partner Agencies are educational agencies who would like to promote English Idealist
language study in the USA and look to EnglishUSA members for accredited, Education
quality English language programs to meet their clients’ and students’ needs. Consultancy www.idealist.
com.tr, Turkey
How has the ELT sector in the USA fared in 2022?
While 2021 data from Open Doors showed a decrease in student weeks, there “We have always been open to work-
is optimism of a slight increase. Information gathered from members refl ects ing with new schools. The pan-
this optimism with indications that students were returning to the USA for demic made us work with more new
in-person programming. Over 70 per cent of members reported predicted schools that we have not worked
increases this fall. In addition, snapshot data in May 2022 from the Student with before because we decided
Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) shows that the number of students study- to add new destinations and new
ing on an F or M visa designated as language study was up 10 per cent from programmes to our portfolio. We
the previous year in fall and up 40 per cent compared to last March 2021. started working with around 10 new
partners last year, from Canada,
What are the major challenges members face? Ireland, Australia and Dubai. We have
Challenges continue to be both back-up processing and visa issuances; there not had any negative experiences
is a perceived bias that English language students are often denied visas so far because although we did not
even though language training is a bona fi de reason for applying for a visa. work with them previously, we were
Programs are also worried deferrals may increase due to the strength of the already familiar with them.”
US dollar and there continues to be issues with staffi ng.
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6 STUDYTRAvEL MAGAZINE