There cannot be many monopolists
Many companies call themselves educational groups. It is enough to have several educational centers and branches in different cities or countries, several program options - and here is your group. But this article is not about them, but about serious international players that have essentially monopolized the educational market. These are Study Group and Aspect. These companies have much in common - both grew out of English language courses in England.
Aspect (more precisely, its English progenitor, Angloworld) appeared a few years earlier, but this did not prevent Study Group from eventually pushing it aside and effectively “moving” it from the British market to the North American one.
Thus, Aspect Education was founded almost forty years ago. It was started by two Swiss, Schiller and Scheller, who organized the Angloworld Travel agency. The agency brought Swiss and Japanese people to England to learn English. The business went so well that in 1972 Schiller and Scheller decided to open their own English language schools in Oxford, Cambridge, Bournemouth and London. Over time, there were more than twenty such schools throughout England.
New markets had to be conquered, and in 1991 Angloworld Education merged with Aspect, a group of American language schools. At the same time, the list of programs offered expanded: English courses were joined by an academic year at an American school, preparation for and enrollment in university, business and professional diploma courses, and internships. There were attempts to open language schools in Europe. In other words, by the mid-90s Aspect had become a powerful corporation with representative offices in Europe, the USA, Canada and Australia. The creation of a corporate website also contributed greatly to this success, thanks to which the organization became recognizable on the Internet. The emphasis, of course, was on English-speaking countries as the most popular among foreign students. In 2000, the Australian and New Zealand language schools International Language Academies joined Aspect, and this made the company truly global.
Today Aspect Education owns international colleges and language schools in the United Kingdom, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and offers an extensive portfolio of educational and travel programs. The company's latest developments are a joint MBA with the University of Wales, IT/Business Diplomas at technological institutes in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and Design/Arts Diplomas at the Design and Arts College in New Zealand (Christchurch). All these programs are oriented toward practical experience and successful employment.
The history of Study Group began in Britain in the early 90s of the last century. At that time it was a relatively small company, British Study Group, which owned the Embassy Language Centres language schools and Bellerbys College in Brighton. BSG immediately built the right policy: it began to actively advertise itself in the countries of Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa, from where a stream of students poured in, interested not only in the English language but also in academic education. Therefore, Bellerbys College focused almost exclusively on preparing foreigners for British universities. And this link - English language - pre-university program - university - turned out to be exactly what was needed. In essence, it still forms the backbone of Study Group's entire business. New colleges, new acquisitions and new services only expanded geographic opportunities, fulfilling the main task: to help a foreigner enter a desired foreign university, which is believed to open up great career prospects.
Let us note that Study Group, Aspect, and other organizations engaged in pre-university preparation cope with this task excellently. The whole secret is that they conclude agreements with universities and institutes under which all graduates of preparatory programs who have scored the required number of points on final exams become students. Admission to universities in English-speaking countries is a technology. Therefore, the main thing is to master the toolkit: fulfill a set of certain conditions and perform a series of sequential actions. This is exactly what companies like Study Group and Aspect provide. And besides, it is pleasant when someone in a foreign country takes care of you: finds accommodation, organizes a cultural program, helps you get oriented. All this, called student care - Student Care - is also part of the arsenal of international educational groups.
The success of the business model chosen by British Study Group was confirmed by practice. In the second half of the 90s, the company began to develop rapidly, opening new colleges in the United Kingdom and acquiring companies and educational institutions in Ireland, Australia, and the USA. As a result, it turned from BSG into Study Group International, which in 1998 was profitably sold to the British corporation Daily Mail & General Trust and once again changed its name, becoming simply Study Group. SG's expansion continued in our century: this time the markets of New Zealand and Canada “fell”. As a result, SG owns more than twenty educational centers in all major English-speaking countries, in which about 36,000 students studied last year. Only the international networks EF and Berlitz have larger volumes, but they rely mainly on the number of language schools around the world.
True, large volumes also have a downside: it is believed that when a business is put on a conveyor belt, the quality of the curriculum is averaged out. This is a common drawback of all large organizations - both chain schools and educational groups. And although, for example, Aspect claims that it has managed to preserve a personal approach (they call themselves a “global company with a family atmosphere”), the fact remains a fact. However, much depends on the particular school within the group. On the one hand, they all follow a common corporate policy and meet the same standard, but on the other, each has its own director and staff, its own history and its own atmosphere.
For all their similarity, Aspect and Study Group have some differences. First, of course, the programs are not the same. Second, Aspect does not have its own Bellerbys College, so all academic, professional, and preparatory programs take place at partner educational institutions where local residents study. That is, foreigners immediately integrate into the natural environment, which has both its advantages and disadvantages. In addition, besides English, Aspect offers courses in French, German, Italian, and Spanish at partner schools in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
Competitors are not idle
Any successful business model gives rise to followers and successors. Especially since the idea of a packaged, comprehensive educational offering for foreign students lies on the surface. If a company, say, has long been engaged in foreign language courses, its clients inevitably develop other needs: someone wants to travel after the courses, someone wants to work, someone wants to continue their education. If the company is large and wealthy, it adds all these services to the standard set of programs it offers.
For example, EF Education took roughly this path. The company was founded in 1965 by the Swede Bertil Hult, who still owns it. As with Aspect, it all started with sending students to English language courses in England. Soon this program became so popular that offices had to be opened in other Scandinavian countries. Today EF has more than 90 offices worldwide, agents and representatives in over 100 countries, and 30 language schools. This year EF is opening three more centers - in Brisbane, Manchester, and Torquay. In addition, EF franchise schools are scattered around the world, teaching English and other languages.
In total, 200,000 people go through the EF system each year - only Berlitz shows the same result. Foreign language courses are the main business of EF Education, and it is developing first and foremost: new programs appear (including online), technical innovations are released, such as the portable computer Efekta’s Language Pod (LPod), whose memory contains pronunciation rules, dictionaries, grammar, audio and video libraries, a guide to the host city, e-mail, messaging service, and calendar. But recently EF has also been offering academic programs.
Academic and preparatory programs are also appearing in the offerings of other major language schools. For example, the British Bell Educational Trust, besides its well-known English language courses, now also offers the University Foundation Programme. And another British company, St Giles International, offers university enrollment (University Placement).
There is also another educational group in England that, unlike, say, SG, does not have international status but holds strong positions at home. This is the Cambridge Education Group. Of course, in terms of scale and business volume, it cannot compare with Study Group, Aspect, and EF, but in its field it is quite successful.
Its main advantage is unique preparatory and university programs in creative specialties: art, design, drama, theater, and media. The group includes the Cambridge School of Arts & Design, where these specialties can be studied. But many prefer to prepare a portfolio here and take a Foundation course, so that later they have a choice and can try to get into, for example, the famous Saint Martins.
Cambridge Education Group also has a unique program: special preparation for admission to Oxford and Cambridge (Oxbridge Entrance Preparation). Other offerings are more traditional but no less in demand: preparation for GCSE and A-level secondary education diplomas, preparation for master’s programs, various English courses, and summer schools.
In other words, one can look for pros and cons of large educational groups, but their existence and role in the market cannot be ignored.