European rental platform HousingAnywhere has revealed details of it global expansion, opening up in new cities in the US and the UK.

The provider will begin with four cities in the US – New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago – in addition to London, Manchester and Birmingham in the UK.

“Entering the US and the UK was clearly the next step for HousingAnywhere, as we aim to match the rising demand of internationally-mobile students and young professionals in our new active cities,” Djordy Seelmann, CEO of HousingAnywhere, said in a statement.

“With this expansion, and thanks to the constant innovations to create more easy-to-use and secure digital rental solutions through our platform, now we are enabling people to safely find a new home not only in mainland Europe, but in more corners of the world.”

Earlier this year, Seelmann noted plans to open in the UK and the US in an interview with The PIE News, where he also mentioned plans in the pipeline to open in APAC. Sydney and Melbourne are “very big destinations”, but also Singapore and Tokyo, he said.

It comes as several study destinations are facing accommodation shortages, which have been exacerbated as international students rushed back to in-person studies following the Covid-19 pandemic.

The US expansion will seek to meet a “growing demand” for furnished mid-to-long term rentals for international and interstate mobility, HousingAnywhere said.

“Highly attractive US cities are witnessing that the lack of residential housing supply could affect the enrolment”

The market place pointed to the US 3.8% international student number rebound that the Open Doors showed in the last academic year.

“As is the case in some European cities, highly attractive US cities are witnessing that the lack of residential housing supply could affect the enrolment of students facing challenges to find a place to live,” the company said.

Similarly, the UK expansion is responding to the “increasing need” for “accessible” rental properties in London, Manchester and Birmingham, it added.

Its own data shows that searches for London rose by by 37.7% in 2022 compared to the previous year, and have continued its growth by 37.9% in the first quarter of 2023.

HousingAnywhere partners with around 300 European universities to help both inbound and outbound students find accommodation. It now offers solutions for more than 125 cities on its portal.

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One of the most vocal education agencies and exchange program providers in Brazil has acquired two companies to form its own conglomerate – the CI Group. 

CI Intercambio, as it used to be known, merged with entertainment travel company Amaze Travel, and also acquired educational travel agency Trilha Educação. 

The acquisitions make CI Group “the largest educational travel company in Brazil”. 

“In the last 10 years, we have noticed an increase that has intensified with the pandemic that suggests the need for experience outside the classroom,” said CI’s director Victor Hugo Baseggio. 

“In an increasingly connected and digital world, the activities provided by Grupo CI generate real interactions and connections with the world and society, helping young people absorb the content taught in the classroom and on the internet, broadening horizons and visions about the subjects studied,” added Baseggio.

The merging of the three companies comes under a concept which CI is attempting to pioneer in Brazil – the idea of “edutainment”. 

“We have created a complete ecosystem of learning and experiences, where a child can have their first contact with the CI Group in a program with the school at the age of three for a day on the farm with Trilha Educação.

“Then at 11 years old they can do a first junior program to Canada with CI, followed by a graduation trip in primary or secondary School with Amaze, then return to CI to have a study/work experience in Ireland, and finish with a graduation ceremony and gala party at its college organised by Amaze. 

“This proposition is unique in Brazil and maybe even in the world,” Baseggio elaborated.

“We are preparing to triple numbers in the coming years”

Amaze Travel has a decade’s experience in creating travel experiences, especially for graduating K-12 students, as well as general experiences to Mexico and even Disneyworld. 

While Trilha Educação focuses more on national educational travel, they do also provide travel to US universities – in addition to trips to Silicon Valley. 

Both companies embedding into the CI Group is what has created, Baseggio said, their own spin on the idea of edutainment, with which they will continue to hinge operations on in 2023 and beyond. 

The concept, according to a report from India-based market analyst Mordor Intelligence, has seen exponential growth, and that segment of the sector will continue to do so – a prediction from Mordor says it will grow 17% per year for the next two years.

After tallying 50,000 students through CI Intercambio in 2022, the new CI Group is aiming even higher. 

“We are preparing to triple the number in the coming years,” the statement added.

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Global premium schools group Inspired has acquired Alpha Plus Group Schools, which features prestigious UK brands Wetherby School and Pembridge Hall among its portfolio.

The 17 private schools catering to some 3,300 students in the UK will join the parent organisation that educates over 75,000 students at 80+ schools on six continents.

At the start of the 2022/23 academic year, Alpha Plus enrolled 3,335 school and nursery students.

The latest transaction does not include the acquisition of the three colleges, which enrolled close to 1,000 students at the beginning of this academic year.

The move will support Inspired’s strategic ambitions to “continue building the world’s leading group of premium schools”, the company said.

“The best schools in the world join Inspired, and we are proud to welcome the Alpha Plus Group’s schools, including some of the leading London schools such as Wetherby School and Pembridge Hall School, to the group,” Nadim M Nsouli, founder, chairman and CEO of Inspired, said.

Alpha Plus schools will benefit from “the additional support of a global group of world-leading educational experts”, in addition to access to Inspired’s “global best practices in teaching and learning”.

“[That will] ensure students will receive opportunities specifically designed to transform and broaden their horizons, giving them a deepened appreciation of their fellow global citizens, magnifying and informing their aspirations, and preparing them for a successful academic and working life in an evolving, global world,” Nsouli added.

“Inspired is a group which has a long-term outlook for both our schools and their local communities,” Mark Hanley Browne, CEO of Alpha Plus Group, said.

“For the staff, there will be the opportunity to work in schools abroad, using the Inspired group”

“For the staff, there will be the opportunity to work in schools abroad, using the Inspired group. There will be opportunities to see best practice, for example in the teaching of science and mathematics at prep school and secondary school level. For pupils there will be opportunities to take part in exchange visits with schools abroad.”

In 2022, Alpha Plus saw its revenue jump by 12% to £114.3 million from £102m the year previous.

Adjusted EBITDA for the year was £30.1m, up from £20.8 in 2021, which the company’s financial records said was down to “higher pupil and student numbers and the recovery of boarding demand at the Company’s colleges”.

The 17 schools acquired includes Wetherby Arts School, a new co-educational senior school set to open in 2025 in West London.

Macquarie Capital acted as financial advisor to Delancey and Alpha Plus Group.

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Study abroad organisation Infinite Group has launched an initiative aiming to ‘widen access’ to education for slum children across India.

The Education for All plan strives to “ensure that students not only gain access to education but also have the necessary support systems and resources to continue their studies successfully”.

While the estimated 6.1 million children were out of school in 2014 is down from 13.46m in 2006, there is “still a long way to go”, the company said. Only limited numbers of children in India really enjoy the access to education, it continued, with girls making up a larger share of the population of children who are not in school than boys.

In 2021, the male literacy rate in India stood at 84.4% compared with 71.5% for women. In rural India, the gender literacy disparity is more prominent, with only 66% of women aged 15 to 49 having been literate compared to over 81% of men in the region, it noted.

“We understand that education is the primary influence in determining a student’s future; therefore, we initiate a larger effect by offering a variety of opportunities for the students,” Gaurav Batra, CEO and founder of Infinite Group, said in a statement.

The company has introduced skill-based workshops, communication and manners programs, cognitive development and meals and stationary support.

“Since its founding, Infinite Group has been committed to realising its mission of providing the best possible opportunity for children, and has worked tirelessly towards the goal of empowering students to pursue their passions,” the company added.

“Slum children are facing issues in completing their education. The heavy burden of earning a living for their family is sometimes on their shoulders. While keeping up with the needs of their families, they tend to put education aside. However, Infinite Group is committed to ensuring that people of all backgrounds and identities have equal access to educational opportunities in order to help them achieve their goals.”

The success of the initiative will be measured “by the positive impact it has on the lives of underprivileged students”, Gaurav Virmani, director of strategy and growth planning at Infinite Group, detailed.

“This can be evaluated through various indicators, such as improved academic performance, increased graduation rates, enhanced life skills, and expanded opportunities for further education or employment,” Virmani told The PIE.

“We are looking forward to joining hands with global NGOs working on the same belief of making education accessible to all”

It is the beginning of a wider project that will be global.

“To expand the initiative of education for all beyond India, we are looking forward to joining hands with global NGOs working on the same belief of making education accessible to all. We also plan to work closely with our global education providers to organise on-campus workshops for these students,” Virmani continued.

Infinite Group, which has been operating in the education field for 15+ years, is funding the project through its own revenue.

“We believe it’s not us but our stakeholders, university partners, recruitment partners and students who are contributing to this initiative,” Virmani added.

“Every time you trust Infinite Group for services, you empower young minds to choose independence with the right to education.”

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Recruitment consultant KC Overseas Education has made moves to expand its reach through West and East Africa.

The agency currently has an officer each in both Ghana and Kenya, but the recent move will see a bigger presence on the ground and more officers in both countries.

It comes after KC’s annual survey exploring student perceptions in both countries shows motivations are high to study abroad.

“Starting operations in these key locations in Africa underlines KC Overseas Education’s dedication to providing localised support and personalised solutions to our valued channel partners and students.

“By having a physical presence, we can better understand and address the specific requirements,” said co-founder and CEO of KC Overseas Pankaj Agrawal.

A representative for KC Overseas Education also told The PIE News that the further expansion on the ground will also be based on “market dynamics and current demand”.

“We are confident that our presence in these markets will enable us to forge new partnerships, drive sustainable growth and make a positive impact on the communities we serve,” Agrawal added.

The move by KC has been made amid recent discussions of visa delays that are disproportionately affecting students in Africa – especially emerging countries like Ghana and Kenya.

“Our presence in these markets will enable us to forge new partnerships, drive sustainable growth, and make a positive impact”

“Kenya has a 235-day wait-time [for visa appointments]”, said MPOWER business development director for Africa, Munya Chiura.

“By the US’s own admission, they have a backlog of cases. These are challenging aspects for our students, some of whom are already not able to get loans, and many African students are going to the US,” he said.

While there are different problems affecting the pipeline to other major destinations, such as the UK’s new dependants rule and disarray among Australia’s work rights landscape, the US is having more difficulty.

“In terms of what is going on with the visa appointments and the barriers, that does depend on relationships that each individual country has with the US government.

“What I would love is to see us move towards some uniformity – for example, the US foreign policy interests on the continent are fairly uniform,” said Lydia Bosire Kemunto, CEO of 8B Education Investments.

“We want to win the battle for influence here – and we would love for them to prioritise making those visa processes a lot easier than they are right now,” Bosire added.

KC Overseas Education, which is aware of the current visa situation, told The PIE that they always endeavour to “make students aware of the realistic timelines for them to commence their process well in advance”.

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The number study visas Immigration New Zealand approved in the year to June 2023 reached 62,011, figures from the government agency have shown.

The figures, released on June 3, are down from the 83,733 approved in the 2019/20 year, but they show recovery from the big drop during the Covid-19 pandemic when the country’s borders were closed.

The 2022/23 figures show an uptick in applications from India that were declined. In total, 7,263 study visa applications were granted, compared with the 2,360 from India that were rejected.

China saw 18,369 student visas granted in 2022/23, maintaining it as the biggest cohort of international students. The country saw, compared with India, 642 study visa applications be declined.

In total, authorities turned down 6,483 study visa applications meaning that India represented more than a third of rejections.

Some 13 countries saw more than 1,000 student visa applications, with 2,928 coming from the Philippines, 2,812 from South Africa, 2,409 from the US and 2,313 from South Korea.

Fiji (2,240), Japan (2,153), Thailand (1,985), Vietnam (1,858), Germany (1,385), Sri Lanka (1,675) and Brazil (1,004) all had more than 1,000 applications approved. These figures represent how many visas were granted. They do not tell exactly how many students arrived in the country.

The agency also released data on first-time students showing that between July 1 2022 and May 31 of this year, 41,593 first-time student visas had been approved. This is an increase of 34,370 on 2021/22 figures.

Of the 41,593 first-time students receiving study visas, 13,960 were from non-top 10 sending countries. China represented the most with 8,512 applications, followed by India with 5,826 and the Philippines with 2,564.

In a statement to The PIE, Education New Zealand Manapou ki te Ao CEO, Grant McPherson, noted that India is “clearly a market of significant long-term importance, with forecast economic growth of 6-7% every year for the next three to five years”.

The country’s national education strategy “makes clear” it needs educated, skilled and talented people to realise its economic ambitions, he continued.

“Regarding visa applications, the criteria is set out and published by Immigration New Zealand. Students considering coming to New Zealand to study and their agents should look at them closely before they apply. Experienced agents have a detailed understanding of these criteria,” he said.

The rejection rates among Indian applicants have returned to pre-Covid figures, but have not reached the peak in the mid-2010s. In 2014/15, some 11,000 study visa applications from India were rejected compared with the almost 21,000 that were approved.

One year previous in 2013/14, 2,662 had been rejected compared with the 14,917 approved.

The 2015/16 saw the most Indian applications rejected when 13,057 of the total 34,928 applications were denied.

The PIE approached Immigration New Zealand to ask why rejection rates for Indian applicants were so much higher than other countries but had not received a response ahead of publication.

“Applications from our key markets are being approved at good rates and in good time”

Approved visas for English language studies hit 5,054 in the 2022/23 year, still down on the 2017/18 peak at 15,649.

Kim Renner, executive director at English New Zealand, noted that the visa data doesn’t capture the “full picture” for the English language sector.

Short-term students on visitor and working holiday visas “kick started” the recovery process and remain a strong contributor to overall ELT student numbers, she explained.

“English New Zealand’s internal snapshot data shows steady growth averaging about 30% every six weeks from July 2022 and student visa applications have been steady since August 2022 when processing resumed. Applications from our key markets are being approved at good rates and in good time,” she told The PIE.

The country has sought to diversify its international student cohort, with “quality” being key in its international education strategy.

Writing on June 15, McPherson, who has just spent two weeks in North America following a delegation he led to India in May, commented on the “intense” competition New Zealand faces as its international education sector continues to rebuild and reestablish its partnerships and relationships.

“We must continue all our efforts to ensure people know we are open, and we are welcoming of students into New Zealand,” he said.

Recent student visa application figures are a “good start considering our borders have not been open for a year”.

“Rebuilding is not an easy task. I don’t think any of us thought it was going to be. There are plenty of articles and news stories identifying challenges being faced by other countries,” he said.

“New Zealand is in an excellent position to attract great students who receive a leading education and have a life changing experience.”

McPherson, in his statement to The PIE, noted that ENZ announced a $400,000 investment into internationalisation and student mobility initiatives including the relaunch of the New Zealand Excellence Awards during the delegation to India.

“The NZEA are unique scholarships designed exclusively for Indian students that are jointly funded by ENZ and all New Zealand universities. Since their launch in 2016, the scholarships have enabled more than 200 Indian students to study at one of New Zealand’s universities,” he said.

Earlier this year ENZ also led a delegation to the Middle East, with four universities visiting Oman, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, aiming to promote the country as a destination for government-sponsored scholarship students.

“Getting New Zealand onto the Saudi Arabian government’s list for scholarships will take regular and persistent engagement”

“Getting New Zealand onto the Saudi Arabian government’s list for scholarships will take regular and persistent engagement from NZ Inc partners and education institutions,” said ENZ’s regional director Americas, Middle East & Europe, Amy Rutherford.

“The approval of New Zealand education providers [on the list] would be an important signal of the high quality of New Zealand education and potentially support our involvement in other areas of government funding, such with the National Institute for Education and Professional Development, the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation, or the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Tourism.”

For the country’s ELT sector, diversity has always been a “key selling point” for English New Zealand members, with some hosting between 20-30 different nationalities within their schools currently, Renner added.

“It’s great to see more flight options available at better prices, and we are working closely with members to support them as we move out of the recovery phase and into more business-as-usual mode,” she said.

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The number of international students studying in Australia in 2023 is predicted to top the pre-Covid record set in 2019.

In what appears to be a long-awaited recovery for the Australian education sector, local press has however been awash with commentary about how the increase in numbers of international students contributes to the deepening rental crisis in the nation’s major cities.

Some reports blatantly accuse international students of ‘fuelling Australia’s rental crisis’, while others attempt to debunk such rhetoric as dangerous myths.

Many international students already in Australia are struggling to meet the rising cost of living, while those looking for a place remotely – before traveling to commence their studies in Australia – feel discriminated against by landlords who consider them ‘high risk’ due to their lack of rental and financial history.

Australia’s purpose-built 120,000-bed student accommodation housing sector is at 100% capacity. With no new housing to be available for another 18 months or more, many students seeking accommodation will struggle to find a place.

A number of universities sold off a proportion of their student housing during the pandemic. In some cases, this made student accommodation more costly than the wider private rental market.

For example, some student listings for a large studio apartment in Melbourne were advertised for AUS$759 a week, which is 57% higher than the city’s median rent for a unit of comparable size.

The vast majority of international students have to rely on the private rental market, and many find themselves in precarious, insecure and inadequate accommodation.

Anika, a 22-year-old international student from India, arrived in Melbourne in 2020, just before Covid. She secured accommodation in one of Melbourne’s purpose-built student housing units relatively easily due to the significant drop in international arrivals.

“Most places attract large crowds of prospective renters”

Since the borders reopened, her rent has increased by 50%. She lives in a “shoe box” for AUS$270 a week. She has been trying to find another place since February this year, something more liveable but also affordable in one of Melbourne’s inner suburbs.

“Most places attract large crowds of prospective renters. I had to queue for an hour to inspect an apartment in Prahran,” she said. So far, Anika has failed to find new accommodation.

International student from China, Kiki Zhang, recently told ABC about the anxiety and worry she faced when searching for housing.

“It was incredibly difficult to find a place … The whole experience was very unexpected,” the 25-year-old in Melbourne said.

New arrivals in the middle of this year are expected to further inflame an already critical situation with demand far exceeding supply, stakeholders fear. Earlier this year, there were concerns that an influx of Chinese students after the country’s borders opened would exacerbate the housing shortage.

Australian researchers monitoring public sentiment around this issue via open online platforms point out that prospective international students are concerned with Australia’s housing crisis and might choose other destinations to study if unable to find affordable accommodation.

Staff at one of Melbourne’s universities are being asked to billet international students to ensure they do not turn their backs on Australia.

About the author: This article was written jointly by international project officer at LaTrobe University Jennet Ure, and manager, LaTrobe International at LaTrobe University William Peng. 

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The fuel subsidy which was ended by Nigeria’s incoming president will play a small part in a surge of international student migration, but its full effects are “unlikely to be felt” for at least a year.

The move, which the president has said would free up money for education among other advantages, has proved divisive across the country, with labour unions furious at the 50-year subsidy’s cut.

People across Nigeria were seen lining up at petrol stations to try and get as much as possible before the prices went up at the end of May.

While international student migration might see a slight uptick in numbers, a commentator is unconvinced that it will have the largest effect on movement amid other current events.

“The bank unifying the foreign exchange rates will also have a big impact,” Emeka Ude, managing director of BCIE, told The PIE News.

The country’s central bank made the decision to liberalise to the foreign exchange rates, which led a massive devaluation of the Naira.

“Before, everybody was waiting and watching the market, and queuing up to use the discounted rates to wire their school fees – now, since yesterday [June 14], because of the unification of rates, that’s been thrown out the window.

“So students are having to make the decision of, ‘am I willing to pay up to a million more Naira just to wire my fees?’ The answer, I think, is yes,” Ude explained.

“Students are having to make the decision of, ‘am I willing to pay up to a million more Naira?’”

“I don’t think the subsidy will affect them at the moment, but we will see its effects probably a year from now,” he added.

The issue of the fuel subsidy of course, has an immediate effect on transport – flights for students to get out of the country will become much more expensive, but the president has said that it is a burden that must be shouldered to “save the country from going under”.

“The government I lead will repay you through massive investment in transportation infrastructure, education, regular power supply, healthcare and other public utilities that will improve the quality of lives,” said president Bola Tinubu.

The compounding issue with the subsidy’s end may be that it instead heightens the people’s “trust deficit”, as Ude calls it – fewer people have faith in the government, so they may leave and get their education elsewhere.

A recent survey of 1,054 Nigerian adults suggested that 52% of highly skilled employees plan to quit their jobs and relocate abroad.

“Families [whose children want to study abroad] have this storage of funds protected out there because there’s no real social protection agency – so they just let the system be what it is,” Ude said.

“There is this ‘protect yourself’ kind of mentality. I don’t think this situation will cause numbers to go down, but I’m still seeing swathes students coming into my office saying let’s go, I want to apply.”

Ude said that this is likely not just because of the government’s recent decisions – which also include firing the governor of the central bank and skepticism around the new student loans bill signed into law in June – but because of the UK’s pending dependants rule.

“There is this ‘protect yourself’ kind of mentality”

The ban, which has been introduced for international students on master’s taught courses, greatly affects Nigeria, which saw a 146% rise in the amount of dependants being brought to the UK in the last year.

“With the UK government saying that the dependency system is changing by January next year, that’s what people are trying to take advantage of.

“[People here] haven’t really trusted the system here for a long time. There was a recession in Nigeria in 2016; people didn’t care, they just shipped out. The same is happening now too,” he insisted.

Despite the new president’s insistence that the “sacrifice” of the fuel subsidy “will not be in vain”, Nigerians will still seek their education elsewhere, even in the face of the enticing new zero-interest student loans framework.

“There might be those who are ready to listen to the old folks who say things can work out eventually, but all these younger students who don’t really listen to the news – all they care about is ‘what do I want right now? I want to go out there, get my education’,” Ude added.

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Enabling a story-telling environment to allow international educators to develop and build intercultural confidence is gaining ground with a UNESCO-backed initiative and global rotation of a Chair in Intercultural Competences.

Story Circles is a methodology being discussed and adopted by champions of intercultural learning and was a topic being discussed at the recent NAFSA conference.

Darla Deardorff, a research fellow at Duke University, is one such global education leader who has been instrumental in the initiative, authoring The Manual for Developing Intercultural Competencies: Story Circles.

She explained, “UNESCO Story Circles allow participants to experience deep connection and empower them “to explore our shared humanity in bridging divides”.

Speaking at a panel during NAFSA, Jewell Green-Winn, senior international officer and chief diversity officer at Tennessee State University recalled her own experience as a story circle participant for the first time.

“While listening to the stories, what I found was that nobody’s story was better than the other. Nobody’s story was more painful than the other. I wasn’t there to judge that.

“But what I realised was we all have a story. To sit there and listen to people openly and honestly share their story was profound for me.”

Kim McGrath of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas who took part in a Story Circles session described it as “a dynamic methodology” for allowing students to understand the experience of others who have undergone challenges similar to their own.

“Since we are connected, we must learn to get along and listen to each other without judgement”

“In addition to facilitating understanding of shared experiences, story circles can give space for students to fully describe and understand their own cultural adjustment and transformation during study abroad, McGrath asserted.

Likewise, Green-Winn referenced the work of Stephen Covey and belongingness. “We are all a human interconnected family. Regardless of colour, where we’re from, or what we believe in, we are all connected. And since we are connected, we must learn to get along and listen to each other without judgement and Story Circles help foster that.”

The UNESCO Chair in Intercultural Competences has been awarded to Stellenbosch University in South Africa, with Deardorff and South Africa-based Sarah Howie acting as co-chairholders.

It is designed to promote an “integrated system” of research, teaching and training, community engagement and communication, and facilitate international collaboration between researchers and teaching staff.

Deardorff also shared that the UNESCO Chair will “re-think the lens of intercultural competence”, noting, “This could shift our way of thinking about intercultural competence as some abstract concept and make it more real.”

Deardorff is also the executive director of AIEA and the founder of the World Council on Intercultural and Global Competence.

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Roughly 2.3 billion people speak English as a first or additional language, but with the rise of AI and the increasing market share of other languages, what lies ahead for the world’s most spoken language?

The British Council is currently in the middle of establishing a long-term research agenda into the future of the English language covering its global uses, needs, and demands, as well as the forces driving them. Inspired by the British Council’s latest landmark publication ‘The Future of English: Global Perspectives‘, here are three things you need to know about the future of the world’s most spoken language, according to the experts.

1. English is set to retain its position as the world’s lingua franca

Part of the British Council’s research involves assessing the 14 predictions made by linguist David Graddol in his 2006 publication ‘English Next‘, which included him forecasting the decline of English as a world language.

“His prediction, I don’t believe, came true, and I don’t believe it will,” said Barry O’Sullivan, head of assessment research and development, British Council.

“The massive growth of the internet continues to show how important the English language is.

“We see that Chinese is improving its share of the market but my own prediction… is that [English] has gone beyond a tipping point by now that it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for another language to enter that stage at that same level.

“I don’t see a threat to the English as a lingua franca coming from another languages, I see it coming from technology,” O’Sullivan however acknowledged during a webinar with The PIE.

2. AI is not going away, it can help advance the English learning experience, but it’s far from perfect and won’t replace teachers

“[AI] is a huge area, I think it will continue to grow, it’s the genie out of the box, it’s not going to go back in. We have to find ways of dealing with it. In terms of English language itself, it will change the way we use language, the way we generate language,” said O’Sullivan.

“We see a lot of benefits in terms of efficiency, we should be able to create tests that are shorter and that are more focused on specific constructs, for example focused on specific types of language – engineering, medicine etc.”

O’Sullivan, editor of The Future of English: Global Perspectives believes that AI is the “most likely” route to personalisation of assessment and learning, but also highlighted its benefits for the agility of design and development.

However, there are many limitations to AI systems, said O’Sullivan, noting issues with copyright, originality, bias, and accurate and reliable scoring.

Despite its continuing development, O’Sullivan is firm in his belief that there remains a strong need for English language specialists because “without that we are in danger of allowing AI to essentially steal the language”.

“It fills me with horror to think that anyone would think that English language teachers are going anywhere or should be going anywhere. They are more important than ever,” said Mina Patel, assessment research manager, British Council, an co-author of the book.

Teachers who refuse to see their need to change will become the new Jurassic

“Technology is not going to go away, learners are learning a lot on their own in private spaces, online, and I think education systems need to respond to that in a very agile way, very quickly, in order to marry the more formal systems with the more informal learning systems,” said Patel.

In order for that to happen, Patel says “teachers are key” and must be better supported in order to fully exploit the technology’s benefits to the classroom.

“Teachers who refuse to see their need to change will become the new Jurassic. They will become the dinosaurs, and they will disappear,” said O’Sullivan, adding that teacher trainers and policy makers too need to understand that teaching is going to change.

“If we lose teachers as the central part of our education systems, we risk losing the education system,” he added.

3. There is a growing need for an employment focus in English teaching, learning and assessment

“As English has become more of a dominant language of business around the world, it has become more of a focus of education systems,” said O’Sullivan.

The British Council carried out global roundtable discussions – made up of policymakers and policy influencers – to discover potential trends and drivers throughout the English language. Approximately 92% of roundtable participants said that English was (very or quite) important to secure a job in their country.

“However, educations services, pay lip service, in my opinion, to a lot of that thinking in that they tend to stay with their very traditional routes… Education in general is quite a traditional area,” said O’Sullivan.

“We need to get away from learning the knowledge of the English language to learning how to use it and in what context. A lot of people will come out of school or even university, armed with English and a certificate, but they won’t be able to use it in a business setting.

“We need to learn more about what the specific aspects of language that people will need to use… rather than know. We all know that when we use language, it’s about developing connection with your speaker, it’s not necessarily about speaking in an absolutely accurate way all the time.”

In the Americas roundtable – represented by Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and the US – stakeholders concluded that there is a move away from learners needing to show proficiency through test certificates for work.

Instead, they surmised that employee value the ability to communicate and hold conversations in specific work contexts.

They also recognised that different jobs require different skills in English and different levels of proficiency, highlighting that employees in important sectors in their country – such as tourism – have different skill priorities depending on if they work in the front- or back-office.

“If I’m learning English and go to work in Singapore, for example, then I need a variant of English that is to be understood – those other variants of English are not going to disappear,” Mark Walker, director of English and exams at the British Council, told The PIE in a recent interview.

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