Page 5 - ELG2304 Apr Issue 484

NEWS
A quarter of UK accredited centres gone

A
further 24 operations
have shut down or opted
to leave the British
Council Accreditation
scheme since September 2022,
the Gazette can reveal. This brings
the total number which have
closed or left the scheme since
Covid struck to 124, just over a
quarter of all those listed prior to
the pandemic.
Already struggling to recover
post pandemic, Brexit has banjaxed
the UK’s language travel industry.
To quote the Financial Times the
UK’s “Kafkaesque rules,” make CREDIT WILLJ
it tough for EU children to take
school trips to Britain and virtually Kings College St Michael’s was the only British Council accredited
impossible for their classmates Boarding school to close down during the pandemic.
from immigrant families. As a
result, the school trips market One foreign-owned operation has
has halved with a loss of some withdrawn from the UK market
£1billion to the economy. during this period while the other UK language centres
Adult tourism from both from two outfits are still trading. Since
Germany and France is also down Covid struck 17 non-boarding lost from accreditation
according to the Guardian which school summer operations have
cites as the cause the fact that 50 gone five are still trading. By
per cent of German and French contrast, just three boarding 1. Aberystwyth University*
citizens do not hold a passport. school-run summer courses and 2. Activate Learning Bracknell and Woking College FE*
Meanwhile the government one run by an independent day 3. Activate Learning City of Oxford College FE*
decision to leave the EU -run school have left the scheme.
student exchange programme, the As a sector, boarding schools 4. Activate Learning Guildford College FE*
Erasmus scheme, has decimated have been the least likely to opt 5. Activate Learning Reading College FE*
the training market for overseas out. With a drop of just 12.5 per 6. Berlitz Oxford PLS*
EFL teachers. cent in the number of accredited
However, it is not the hardest boarding schools, the sector’s 7. Cambridge Language and Activity Courses SS*
hit sectors of British Council representation is now higher 8. Christian English Language Centre (merged)
scheme which have been the than that of Further Education. 9. Connect PLS
most likely to disappear from the It seems to offer the scheme its 10. EJEF PLS*
list. The worst rate of attrition best, perhaps only, opportunity for
has been in the state sector where growth, as the market increasingly 11. Flexilearning PLS*
40 per cent of Further Education skews towards under 16s. 12. International Community School* BS
Colleges and just under 30 per There has been a trickle 13. Intensive School of English PLS*
cent of universities have opted of new providers applying for
out. Not one of these institutions accreditation with a total of 14. Keele University*
has closed, they have simply voted 21 new centres approved since 15. London Language Foundation PLS*
with their feet. March 2020. There are now 380 16. Mayfair school of English
There are now nearly as names on the Council’s official list 17. MLI SS
many universities accredited by down from 478 in March 2020.
BALEAP (28) as under the British Whether adding new competitors 18. Nottingham College FE*
Council-run Accreditation UK into the accredited sector is a 19. Oxford House College Richmond PLS
scheme (29), with four accredited good move in a declining market 20. Oxford Summer Courses SS*
by both. The mass exodus of is a question best answered by
the state sector appears to have existing accredited providers 21. Purley Language Centre PLS*
put paid to the original remit of However, short a change of 22. Rossall School BS*
English UK which was formed by government, or at least a change 23. St George’s International*
the merger of the language schools of government policy, the slow 24. University of Brighton*
association (ARELS) and its state but steady loss of BC accredited
sector counterpart BASCELT) centres, currently averaging 3 to 4
with the states aim of representing a month, looks set to continue. For Key:
the whole industry. the European market, the UK is PLS = Private Language School
Summer school numbers have becoming a second-tier destination SS= summer School Operation
also seen a 30 per cent decline while, outside the Arab world,
though the number leaving the most long haul, long stay students FE = Further Education College
scheme has slowed, with just will continue to prefer countries Centres marked * appear to be trading
three going in the last six months. which offer them work rights.
editorial@elgazette.com 5