StudyTravel Magazine: Recovery in view for Australia’s ELICOS sector after damaging 2021
The latest quarterly data from English UK for 2022 Q2 shows a continuing recovery for the UK’s ELT sector with growth of 181 per cent compared with the same period of the previous year, returns from several key source markets and an increase from the junior segment.
Student weeks data: The Quarterly Intelligence Cohort (QUIC) report for 2022 Q2 (April-to-June) by English UK shows that there were 105,658 student weeks delivered, an increase of 181 per cent compared with 37,608 weeks in 2021 Q2, based on 119 member centres that provided data for both periods.
The increase represents a continuation of the trend of quarterly growth for English UK members through 2021 and into 2022, although the student weeks total remains short of pre-pandemic levels. In 2019 Q2, 174,229 student weeks delivered, albeit with a higher number of reporting centres (134).
The young learner market accounted for 10 per cent of weeks in 2022 Q2.
Junior sector: There was a welcome recovery for the junior sector, which only recorded 132 student weeks in 2021 Q2. In the most recent quarter, 11,070 weeks were delivered to junior students, growth of 8,286 per cent.
Junior weeks accounted for 10 per cent of the total delivered in 2022 Q2, comparable to the 15 per cent delivered in Q2 in the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
Source countries: Saudi Arabia remained the top source country in the second quarter of the year with 17,941 student weeks, more than double the second-largest Brazil (8,179 weeks).
The top five – which all accounted for a higher number of weeks than in 2021 Q1 – was completed by Switzerland (6,455 weeks), Turkey (6,420) and Italy (6,406)
The latter, typically the largest source market for UK ELT providers across a calendar year, has returned to the top five source countries for the first time since before Covid-19. Italy was the top source for juniors with 1,680 weeks, followed by Spain (1,348).
English UK said that the 2022 Q2 student profile was more typical of second quarter breakdowns seen before the Covid-19 pandemic, although with the notable absence still of China and Russia.
Agents accounted for more than three quarters of student weeks for English UK members in the QUIC scheme in Q2, a ratio consistent with previous QUIC reports.
Students in group bookings accounted for 14 per cent of student weeks in 2022 Q2, more than double the amount in the same period of last year although still below a ratio of 24 per cent in 2019.
The top ten source markets in 2022 Q2. Source – English UK/Bonard.
English UK also said that more locations were operational in the second three months of 2022. The 120 members in the QUIC scheme – more than a third of English UK’s total membership – represent a total of 228 locations, and 118 of those were operational in Q2, 18 more than in the previous quarter.
