Page 14 - ELG2205 May Issue 480

.
TRENDING IN LANGUAGE TRAVEL

Changing dir ection
Changing direction

As the Covid dust settles, other factors are determining where
students go to learn English, says Melanie Butler

ith the Philippines open to fully
vaccinated visitors since the
beginning of April and the New
WZealand government allowing
language schools to enrol 1,000 students by
October, the beginning of post-Covid language
travel has begun.
But what happens now?
At first glance, it looks like the pre-Covid
move away from the US and UK and towards
the smaller markets is set to continue. The
figures on language centre closures during
the pandemic are stark: by July 2021, 85
language centres had permanently closed in
the US and 82 in the UK, compared to 32 in
Australia and just four in Ireland, according to
figures released by market analysts Bonard in
September 2021.
Remember, however, the numbers of centres
in the two biggest destinations are huge. On
Bonard’s figures, just 10% of the 854 US
centres have closed. In the UK, which had PHOTO BY SHUTTERSTOCK
1,061 language centres – including universities,
FE colleges and boarding schools – the rate of
closure was 7.6%.
By contrast, South Africa saw 12.7% of
centres close by September 2021 and in New In the EFL travel market, only the UK, It’s this switch in the EU market for under-
Zealand it was 12.1 per cent, the Bonard the US and the Philippines do not offer work 18s which poses the biggest long-term threat to
figures show. rights and, unless they already enrolled local the UK, because before Covid hit the ‘junior
It was the private language school (PLS) students or had successful online courses, most market’ made up 50% of total enrolment and
sector in the UK and the US which bore the schools in these countries enrolled few if any the vast majority of those enrolments came
brunt. In the US, closures mostly involved students for nearly two years. from Europe.
chains cuttings branches, with some, such as With all destinations open again, another While the politics of the US under Biden
Stafford House and St Giles, withdrawing from major factor comes into play: exchange rates. have improved its approval among international
the States entirely. The English language industry is divided into students, the same cannot be said of the UK.
regional duopolies with different currencies: Nobody voted for Brexit so Britain could
According to schools the US and Canada, the UK and Ireland, ban European student visitors, but the British
Government is doing its damnedest to keep
Australia and New Zealand. Enrolment rates
association English between each pair historically mirror currency them out. It left Erasmus and destroyed the
UK, 15% of member fluctuations: if the Euro is high students head teacher training market. It hit universities
for the UK; a strong US dollar increases
by insisting Europeans paid full international
schools are now student flows to Canada. fees. And as for the high school immersion
So, where are exchange rates now? With war
programmes, except for short school exchanges,
permanently closed in Ukraine taking central stage, the markets it made it illegal for all foreigners to enrol in UK
have run for safety to the US dollar, helping state schools.
In the UK, outside of OISE, few chain Canada become the first choice destination for Now its insistence on making EU children
schools closed more than one branch. university students, according to a report from travel on full passports rather than ID cards
Dozens of year-round, stand-alone schools, IDP. Over the pond, Europe’s dependence not only threatens the summer school market,
however, have gone down. And the bloodbath on Russian gas has seen the euro plummet it’s all but destroying the £3.5 billion school
continues. According to schools association against the pound while the language schools trip sector. But why?
English UK, 15% of member schools are now of Dublin fill up. As Kurt Janson, the director of the UK’s
permanently closed. Meanwhile in Ireland, the Whether students are following the change Tourism Alliance, has said: “Schoolchildren
equivalent association, MEI, has not seen one in interest rate or merely the change in present no security risk, will not disappear into
single school shut. fashions, they are changing their minds about the black economy and start driving minicabs,
Why the difference? Like most other where to study, especially in the EU. The and parents who let their children go on school
destinations, Ireland gives work rights to long- IDP report shows Canada heading the table trips are generally quite keen for their teachers
stay students and enough students remained for European teenagers looking for year-long to bring them back home.”
in the country after Covid hit to keep schools school immersion programmes. Meanwhile, Covid wreaked havoc on private language
going: online during lockdowns and in person Europe’s high school graduates are heading to schools everywhere, but in the UK it is Brexit
in the periods they were permitted to open. Ireland to do university degrees. which still poses a threat.
14 May 2022