Magdalena Jugovic is an owner of English UK Partner Agency Kub Enterprises in Belgrade, Serbia.
Tell us a bit about your agency
We are a specialised agent for language travel and education, so we place students in secondary education and at university. We have courses in the summer for juniors travelling individually and academic courses have become very popular with quite a few coming to the UK.
Tell us more about the students you send to the UK
In summer, junior courses are definitely number one. The most popular are standard vacation courses with 20 lessons a week plus activities and excursions.
We've introduced what we call the Green Pages – individual courses with an added element which could be art and design, academic subjects or website design.
The most popular destination is the UK and English is our number one language. London and around London is most popular which is exasperating because there are so many beautiful places in Britain!
The adult students want to explore Britain and are willing to go to different places when we tell them what the towns look like and feel like and what they can do there.
What changes have you seen recently?
The kids are no longer satisfied with just the standard courses, they have to have something challenging them. There's a completely different generation coming now. They are not happy with just the textbook learning any more they need the extra challenges.
Another thing is that the parents want mother tongue teachers in the UK.
Are there other ways educators can support your work?
We have our own fair in February and educators who come usually see the difference. Students have the opportunity to speak first hand to the education institutions about their offer or courses. It helps them get their name on the market and this is our main marketing campaign.
What motivates your clients to travel for study?
English is the number one foreign language and Serbian parents realise that if their kids don't speak English they are illiterate. They realise that if you come to the UK you learn quickly.
Here English is taught from the first year of primary school to the end of university so our students come with a very good passive knowledge of English. Their grammar and vocabulary is excellent but they can't speak. The course helps them get their language going and that's the main motivation for coming to the UK.
Do you enjoy your job?
Every client is a new challenge: you're trying to find the right kind of course for them that in the short amount of time will give the best result and they will come back happy, having experienced something, learned about a new culture, experienced a new country.
What do you think of our plans for StudyWorld?
I really love what you are doing with StudyWorld. We will have only British schools and universities and there was not a single conference that gave me that. We will have the UK universities, secondary schools, and language schools UK ones in one place and that's good. This is a chance for agents like me to do the whole range of UK education and I love the idea.
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