EC, the Malta-headquartered English language tuition group, is to open a new school in the UK in the first quarter of 2011 and an additional US operation later on next year, executive chairman Andrew Mangion told The Times Business.
The group is currently finalising an ambitious 10-year business plan mapping out EC’s medium-term expansion through a number of acquisitions, organic growth and greenfield operations.
EC currently operates schools in Malta, the UK, the US and South Africa and has enjoyed a “good year all round” this year, Mr Mangion added.
The group also holds a 50 per cent stake in Expanish, a Buenos Aires-based Spanish language tuition firm which recently relocated to double its teaching facilities to 20 classrooms. Expanish is now looking to expand outside Argentina.
With the UK and US English language tuition markets worth up to $5.8 billion combined, EC is to focus its expansion strategy to further tap the industry’s business potential in the world’s strongest EFL destinations.
Established in 1991, the group has firmly positioned its brand among the top 10 international players as far as total immersion programmes are concerned.
EC now aimed for a global podium ranking within the next few years.
Mr Mangion said EC had taken root on the worldwide agent circuit where it is now firmly viewed as a global operator after previously being considered a reputable Malta brand.
“When we first moved into Brighton, the most difficult aspect for the early three or four years was convincing agents that EC was not just a Malta school. They knew us then as a Malta school, not a UK school,” Mr Mangion explained. “Today, they think of us as an international operator. That credibility took eight years to build. When we opened our New York school in May of last year, we had 35 students. By last July we had 350 students. That happens because of the strength of the brand, which we are now working on leveraging.”
The executive chairman pointed out EC’s international growth will also necessitate the expansion of the Malta headquarters which incorporated its management, sales and marketing, IT, and finance and administration functions. Several new high-level posts will be created as a result.
In the UK, EC’s best-performing market, the group is shortly to inaugurate new, state-of-the-art premises for its Brighton operation in an imposing building on Manchester Street.
Spread across four floors of the property – which has just seen a multi-million pound refurbishment by the West Sussex-based Hargreaves Group – the leased premises have been fitted to EC’s corporate design specifications.
EC Brighton’s teaching facilities have doubled to 34 classrooms while the operation now boasts three computer centres, four study lounges, a business centre, and extensive office space enjoying ample natural light. The new Brighton school will create up to 30 additional staff positions in the coming year taking its complement to 100 at peak.
Traditionally attracting a seasonal clientele most strongly, Brighton’s total EFL market is valued around £100 million with up to 50 schools competing for business in the more affluent student segment.
Mr Mangion said EC aimed to position the brand as one of the top two schools in the city by 2012.
EC’s Brighton operation was the genesis of the brand’s internationalisation in 2002. Eight years ago, EC began to consider taking the brand overseas under an acquisition and rebranding strategy rather than the strategic alliance approach it originally favoured. Mr Mangion came to learn of the Brighton school – then called House of English – almost by chance while examining the potential of an operation in Cambridge. Within five months, EC acquired three buildings and the going concern from the German owners. Building on its repute for high standards, the Brighton operation spurred the group into further international expansion.
Mr Mangion described 2010 as a “fantastic year” for EC group-wide: hugely encouraging growth in the US has been coupled with a “comeback” year in Malta, and positive numbers in the UK. Student traffic growth is up 30 per across the group.
EC is forecasting up to 30 per cent growth across its global operation next year.