Page 13 - StudyTravel Magazine September/October 2021 Issue

educatOr Q&a agents On...

Industry speaKs TRAVEL GUIDANCE

This issue, eleri maitland, Spokesperson for
groupement Fle, talks about an increase in Marcela Amaral,
membership and how the association is making IE Intercambio
‘green thinking’ a part of its remit. www.ie.com.br,
Brazil

“We have started sending students
abroad again. They are going to
countries where they are allowed:
Cape Town, South Africa; Dubai,
Emirates; Canada (when they have
the study permit); the USA (under a
student visa). I think the most chal-
lenging have been Australia and New
www.groupement-fl e.com Zealand. We are focusing on selling
contact@groupement-fl e.com the destinations students can travel
to in a short time. Also, we have
Number of members: 40 contacted the Irish Embassy due
Types of members: French language schools to the recent changes on the visa
requirements for Brazilians. I would
say Canada and the USA have been
what impact has the Covid-19 pandemic had on the sector? very straightforward, the UK too, in
The pandemic has had a disastrous eff ect on French language schools but terms of what to expect when plan-
conversely a tremendously positive eff ect on our membership now topping ning a study programme there.”
40 schools – a 25 per cent increase. These diffi cult times have brought home
the need for a strong lobbying voice for the profession.

How has Groupement Fle supported its members during Covid? Mariel Gonzalez,
GFLE has been even more active than usual, dropping membership fees UKpARTNERS www.
yet upping the services for member schools. The association has been in ukpartners.com,
constant contact with the Quality Label FLE and together they have made Argentina
repeated representations to government which culminated in French lan-
guage schools being added to the S1bis list for sectors of the economy that “What has been confusing is the
needed extra support and fi nancial protection. We are still active and atten- fact that all destinations have
tive to this subject, given fi nancial support will stop in the Autumn. We will be diff erent sets of travel guidance. All
doing everything in our power to ensure that fi nancial help remains in place the schools we work with have been
for language tourism until 2022. We launched a training programme which super helpful. We have also been
has off ered topics of interest about marketing and improving websites and in contact with the consulates of
the internet, legal and HR issues and even certifi cation courses for elements every country we send students to
of the French government quality referential. Most courses have been free. to make sure we were up to date.
The UK’s roadmap and traffi c light
Tell us about the parnership with Green Standard Schools? systems were very helpful when it
Gfl e recognises the importance of the sector to raise awareness about cli- came to planning for the future and
mate change. We felt that an accreditation scheme would be the best way to managing expectations.”
help members who wanted to make an impact and GSS was the ideal partner.
Read more at: https://studytravel.
Read more at: https://studytravel.network/magazine/issues/814 network/magazine/industry-issues

10 STUDYTRAVEL MAGAzINE