Page 15 - ELG1601 Mar Issue 434

ELmarket report
March 2016 Page 15 Who reads the

Best schools on a budget ELgazette?

Melanie Butler investigates which language centres in the UK offer
a high-quality learning experience at prices that won’t break the bank

or those on a tight budget, the big-name brands, apart from
what are the best buys International House, whose affili-
Famong UK accredited ates in Bristol, Newcastle and
language schools? We are not Belfast all show up. But IH is
talking about value for money an affiliation scheme not a chain.
here – the Wimbledon School Two of the family-owned chains,
of English, the only centre to Skola, in Exeter, and the new
receive a perfect score from the entrant Centre of English Studies
British Council inspectors, costs Oxford, are represented, while
bang on the national average – Into, better known as a pathway
just under £14 an hour for a short provider of university foundation
course of around twenty hours a years than for language schools,
week. But even £280 can be too offers great value in both Glas-
high for some, so what are the Courtesy Sussex Downs College gow and Cheltenham.
best options for those on a tight Most branded schools, how-
budget? On our new consumer ever, charge a small premium
website www.el-go.com we – as visitors to www.el-go.com
mark the cost of a school with will notice – and though several
euro symbols, with € denoting LEADING THE WAY Sussex Downs College offers outstanding offer good value in the £14.50–
short courses at £10 an hour or value as a five-star school with a one-euro price rating £16 an hour bracket, none of the
under and € € marking courses biggest chains turn up here.
costing from between £10 and cent and so on. The exact num- widest choice. There are three So what is the best advice
£12.50. This applies only to non- ber of points, ie strengths minus five-star centres at this price: Sus- that we can offer students who
residential schools of course, any needs for improvement, sex Downs, Dudley College and are looking for quality on a
and we have listed the twenty or have been placed in brackets Sheffield College, and altogether restricted budget? There is an
so best BC-accredited centres in next to the centre name. ten of the centres at this price awful lot out there, especially in
the UK under each price point. So what do the results show come from the state sector. the state sector and among the
They are also marked with us? First of all that, for those This is perhaps not a surprise. independent private language
stars to show their percentile looking for a top language centre Firstly, the figures here refer to schools. You can go to most
ranking: five stars for the top 20 for under £10 an hour, state fur- fees for EU students, which are destinations and take your pick
per cent, four for the next 20 per ther education colleges offer the benchmarked to similar courses of seaside resorts, historic towns
for British students – for students and at least three capital cities: 400 officials in 48 countries
We make every effort to ensure from outside the EU the fees are London, Edinburgh and Belfast.
that lists in the Gazette are as significantly higher. Secondly But apart from IH don’t expect receive their copy every month
comprehensive and up to date FE colleges do not normally to find the big international
as possible. However, we are charge registration fees, which chains. The choice is yours. n
Sussex Downs College (12) reliant on published reports push the costs of short courses – courtesy of the British Council
from the British Council, and
Dudley College (10) we can only use the latest pub- up – and, indeed the shortest
Sheffield College (9) lished information (19 February FE courses can be considerably
2016). Sometimes the informa- longer than those on offer in the
tion is updated several months
after an organisation has been private sector. The single biggest
City of Glasgow College (7)
inspected, and this may mean reason for the price competive-
Live Language, Glasgow (7) that the data here is based on ness of the state sector, however,
Chichester College (6) information from before the last is that colleges simply do not
KKCL, Harrow (6) inspection or spot check. pay language travel agents any-
Leeds English Language School (6) thing close to the 30 per cent
Westminster Kingsway College (6) commission agents demand
De Montfort University, Leicester (5) from the private sector.
Gloucestershire College, Cheltenham (5) London and Scotland figure
Portsmouth Language College (5)
strongly in the lowest price cate-
gory. At four stars are FE colleges,
such as Westminster Kingsway
Central College, Nottingham (4) slap in the centre of London, and
College of North West London (4) City of Glasgow College, and
Edinburgh Language Centre (4) private language schools such as
Britannia School of English, London (3) Live Language, also in Glasgow,
Edgware Academy of Languages & Computer and KKCL in the leafy London
Science, London (3) suburb of Harrow. Over half of
The English Studio, London (3) all the three-star centres at this
Glasgow School of English (3) price are also in Scotland, both
Northumbria School of English, Whitley Bay (3) Edinburgh and Glasgow this time,
Wirral Metropolitan College (3)
or London. The strong showing
of schools such as Britannia and
the English Studio shows that
the London tradition of above-
average schools at below-average
prices is alive and well – and no
Lake School of English, Oxford (14)
Language Specialists International, Portsmouth (13) longer living on Oxford Street.
Hilderstone College, Broadstairs (12) Look at the €€ box and you
International House Newcastle and Edinburgh (11) will see the independent pri-
International House Bristol (10) vate language sector come into
Milton Keynes College (10) its own. The top-five ranking
ECS Scotland, Edinburgh (8) schools for under £12.50 an hour
Henley College Coventry (8) are all in the top 5 per cent in the
INTO Scotland at Glasgow Caledonian University (8) country, including Lake School
Melton College, York (8) of English in Oxford, which is
Studio Cambridge – English Language Courses (8) joint second nationally. Pretty
much all the main ELT destina-
tions feature strongly: Oxford
and Bournemouth with two, two
Centre of English Studies Oxford (7)
Devon School of English (7) in Devon and one each in Cam-
Language in London (7) bridge, York and Bristol. The
Mulberry School of English, Wales (7) choice of destination is immense,
Scarborough International School (7) from the student party town of
TTI School of English, London (7) Newcastle through the traditional
Colchester Institute (6) seaside venues of Scarborough
ETC International College, Bournemouth (6) and Whitley Bay, down to the
International House Belfast (6) rural peace of Wales. At these
INTO University of Gloucestershire (6) prices, you can go pretty much
MLS International College, Bournemouth (6) everywhere you want – except
SKOLA English in Exeter (6) Brighton or perhaps more sur-
Walsall College (6) prisingly, Manchester.
The other thing missing is