Page 9 - StudyTravel Magazine September 2025 Issue

EDUCATOR Q&A AGENTS ON...

PARTNERSHIP
INDUSTRY SPEAKS LONGEST EDUCATOR

Advocacy, professional development, and member
support has dominated the work of peak body Daniela
English Australia in the last year. CEO Ian Maccolini,
Aird reflects on what has been an extremely COMING, www.
challenging period for the ELICOS sector. coming.com, Italy

“The longest partnership I’ve had
has been with Bell (UK) - a beautiful
school which has always offered the

right choice for my students. Some
of the key lessons I’ve learned about
building strong, long-term partner-
ships include having the correct
behaviour, not to be aggressive
www.englishaustralia.com.au and to be an agency which a school
easec@englishaustralia.com.au can rely on. Be patient, be kind, do
not take anything for granted and
Number of members: 100 verify, verify, verify whatever piece
Types of members: private and public ELT providers of information you receive. Better to
lose an enrolment than create some
mess where you can lose your mon-
Please recap on the last 12 months of activity. ey and credibility.”
The last year has been a tough one for our members. We’ve engaged
a lot with ministers, other parties, government departments, sector
regulators, and peak bodies, advocating for fairer student visa application Onur Yaldizkaya,
fees and processing outcomes. We released a Federal Election Statement, Idealist, www.
accompanied by our Member Voices Campaign, which provided members idealist.com.tr,
with talking points and ‘how to’ for communicating with Parliamentarians and Türkiye
election candidates in the lead up to the 2025 federal election. We introduced
monthly Online Member Meetings to ensure timely updates and guidance “Our partnership with Kings Edu-
on policy and legislation changes. Sadly, we lost a couple members who just cation goes back to 1999. In fact,
couldn’t survive the collapse in student enrolments. We worked closely with the very first student we ever sent

members and students on closures to make sure students were looked after. abroad went to Kings Bournemouth,

We continued to deliver webinars and workshops, including PD Fests (mini right after a visit to our office from

conferences) in five states and launched a new self-paced online course in their Principal, Chris Brent. My

ELICOS Compliance, designed for anyone working in an ELICOS college. advice for agents or educators who
are just beginning to work together
What are your predictions for full-year data in 2025? would be to start with clear expec-
We’re on track for the worst ELICOS-only student numbers in 20 years. With tations, realistic targets and keep
the student visa application charge at AUS$2,000 as of 1 July, ELICOS will be communication channels open. Take
especially impacted because the short enrolments mean the visa fee is com- time to understand how the other
pletely disproportionate to the course costs. So, AUS$2,000 is about three side works. And don’t rush, building
per cent of a typical university enrolment but it’s 30 per cent of an average trust takes time, but it’s what really
ELICOS enrolment. We are in discussions with government and are hoping to makes the partnership last.”
see application fees for ELICOS drop back to a more reasonable amount soon.
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