Page 19 - ELG1706 Jun Issue 448

DATA & ANALYSIS

Table 1: Student numbers per region 2015-2016
MIDDLE

EASTERN Country 2015 2016 Rise / Fall

PROMISE Western Europe 288,209 259,380

Asia 56,807 53,669
The Middle East, the region
with the highest average length
of stay, registered a modest Middle East 25,716 26,102
increase in student numbers
from 2015. However, all other
regions with a sizeable market Latin America 29,014 25,952
share show a decrease. The
biggest fall comes from Eastern
Europe with a 37 per cent drop. Eastern Europe 51,790 32,563
In terms of student weeks,
all regions show a decrease Africa 3,828 3,363
– except Australasia, which
saw a very modest increase.
Africa, Eastern Europe and North America 476 508
Latin America show the most
impressive decline.
Western Europe, the most Australasia 32 59
important source region for the
UK ELT industry, has a decrease
of 13 per cent in student weeks
and 10 per cent in student
numbers. However, its market
share increased from 44 per
cent to 47 per cent in the period
2014–16, while Eastern Europe
and Latin America lost ground.

Table 2 (right): Average
length of stay per source
market (weeks)

‘A VASTLY REDUCED SECTOR’

In 2016, English UK’s 441 members hosted around 476,920 students, who 476,920
spent a total of 1,787,380 weeks studying English. This amounts to a fall
of 11 per cent in student numbers and 13 per cent in student weeks from
2015. Private language centres suffered a slightly sharper drop than state- students
sector members. Even the English UK member base got smaller, losing 24
centres since 2015, mostly as a result of closures and mergers. This trend, spent a total of
said English UK chief executive Sarah Cooper, might not only continue
but accelerate in the future as struggling centres closed or were acquired 1,787,380 weeks
by groups. ‘We face the very real possibility of a vastly reduced sector in
terms of number of players in a few years time,’ she added. studying English

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