English UK has released its Student Statistics Report for 2020 and it makes for somewhat gloomy, if unsurprising, reading.
Year on year, full-time English language students fell by 83.6% for those studying at UK member centres. The majority of these were studying in London (25%), with Northern England coming in a strong second place, with 24% of student weeks in the UK spent there,
The report also found that in the state sector, of the 13,804 students enrolled in 2020, numbers were highest from China, followed by Poland, Saudi Arabia, Spain and Japan in that order.
In the private sector, 69,642 students were enrolled, though numbers were down 75% on 2019. Further, over 32 English UK member centres closed as a direct result of Covid-19. EL Gazette figures for closures of accredited language centres, which include non-member schools, put the total figure as over 40.
During the pandemic, 49% of ELT students in the UK took face-to-face classes, 31% had face-to-face and online, and 20% had their lessons entirely online, 4% from outside the UK and 16% within the UK.
