Members reinforce partnerships in key Asian Pacific markets
English UK members attended workshops in Taipei and Tokyo to meet over 50 agents interested in the UK ELT market last month. In positive feedback, the educators commented on the relevance of the markets, the quality of the agents and the organisation of the events.
"This region has always been important for our members," said Roz McGill, English UK's market development manager. "With the education strategy of the Japanese government and the Olympics in 2020 it felt like the right time to reinforce members' partnerships in this key market, and Taiwan has great potential both in invaluable long-term adult students and a growing demand for junior courses".
Educators were pleased with the "good quality" and "good mix" of agencies at the events.
With the event focused on UK ELT, agents were highly relevant and interested in learning more about sending students to the UK. "We always aim for a mix of agents that are already sending significant numbers of students to the UK, and those that are interested in opening up this market", said Agent Relations Manager Louise Gow.
"Conversations that our team had with agents reflected this mix of agents. We had experienced agents looking for new partners for specific courses (my first request for English and fencing!) as well as an agent who sends predominately to Australia looking for a new market for her students."
Each event included a networking dinner and an agent training session as well as the full day of meetings. Comments from Steve Wood of Bede's Summer School reflected the overall view of the participants: "I particularly like the boutique and personalised feel of the English UK events. They are always expertly organised and the timings of the day work well for me."
The format is designed to allow centres of all sizes and with a range of budgets to attend, and the educators attending came from the full range of English UK's membership. Agents were able to meet with a university, a further education college, seasonal multi-centres, owner run boutique schools and large chains.
Workshops in Hanoi and Bangkok: November 2020
Responding to feedback from educators and market insights, the 2020 Asia Pacific events will take place in Hanoi (23 – 24 November) and Bangkok (26 -27 November). English UK will also accompany members to Argentina for a Latin American focused event on the 20 and 21 April 2020 and plans to dovetail this Latin American workshop with an exploratory mission to Ecuador.
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