Argentina: a growing market for UK ELT
Argentina is showing renewed interest and enthusiasm for the UK market. English UK’s recent annual statistics report showed growth in 2018 and a high number of Argentinian agents are booking to meet new and existing partners at StudyWorld this September.
While many top markets saw a small decline in student weeks last year, Argentina grew in 2018. Argentina saw a year-on-year increase of 24.8% and an absolute increase of 4,627 student weeks in the private sector. For state sector members the growth was even more pronounced, although from a low starting point. State sector members reported an increase of 127.4%, or 227 student weeks.
High agent registrations from Argentina for StudyWorld support this trend of interest in the UK market.
We asked two of the agencies registered for the event, Gustavo Viale of Interway Educational Consultancy and Fernanda Molina from CICOR Viajes de Estudio for some more insight into the drivers behind the numbers and why they believe StudyWorld is the event to attend.
Cultural connections
Both agencies highlighted the cultural ties between Argentina and Europe.
Gustavo said: “Argentina is the most European country in Latin America and I would say we are always looking across the Atlantic, rather than towards North America. And the UK is the birthplace of the English language.”
Fernanda echoed this view, adding that she believed the strong connection existed because so many Argentinians are descendants of European immigrants. She also connected interest in the UK with the Argentinian education system, noting that “British English is taught in Argentinian schools and also its history, literature and culture”.
Quality at the right price
Both Gustavo and Fernanda were quick to point out that academic quality was of high importance to their students. Fernanda added that the price of programmes is increasingly important to students: “This is a deal breaker for Argentinian students when choosing a course.”
As students in Argentina look more and more to other destinations like Canada and Australia, Fernanda said schools in the UK need to offer better prices if they want to remain the number one destination for Argentinian students
Accommodation, accommodation, accommodation
Fernanda sees accommodation as the biggest worry for students when studying abroad and deals with a lot of misconceptions about homestay accommodation. She sees a lot of students opting for residential accommodation. English language centres will need to have good residential options to satisfy this demand.
A winter’s tale
Traditionally Argentinian groups travel in January and February.
According to data compiled in our QUIC reports in Q1 2019, 61% of Argentinians came in groups. This is compared with just 12% in Q4 2018. Gustavo has seen some changes in this behaviour, suggesting that “there are more and more groups travelling during the whole year now”.
With QUIC data measuring group against individual bookings for the second year, we look forward to seeing how that trend shows up in the data.
“StudyWorld is the event to attend”
Both Fernanda and Gustavo highlight the importance of the UK focus of StudyWorld in deciding to attend the event. With 90% of her students choosing the UK as their destination, Fernanda sees StudyWorld as “the event to attend”.
If you are interested in meeting Fernanda and Gustavo or any of our other 300 agents at StudyWorld, be sure to book your place before appointment scheduling starts in July.
Email Tim today for a personalised quote or to arrange a call to discuss the different attendance options for educators.
