Agents agree: meeting is more critical than ever in 2021

4th December 2020

Tim Barker, Business Development Director for English UK thinks that StudyWorld meetings are more important than ever in 2021, and agents from key UK source markets agree.

The English UK Summit back in September gave all of us in the industry a real lift. Agents and English UK member schools enjoyed meeting each other and there was a real sense of the community and both sides working together.

70% of delegates surveyed said that the event made them feel more confident going forward.

With so much uncertainty in the air, it was very difficult to talk about business back in September. We are now in a better position to plan ahead.

With the news of vaccines, reduced quarantine time for travellers entering in the UK and the hard work of schools and agents to keep going through a tough winter, StudyWorld in January and March feels like the time to get back to talking business and thinking about significant student mobility again.

Our seminar programmes at StudyWorld will focus on student recruitment and how through effective marketing, agents and educators, working together can rebuild their businesses.

What do agents think?

Agents agree that meeting in 2021 is critical. Claudio Cesarano, CEO of Linguista told us:

“Meeting partners at events like StudyWorld is critical in 2021. After all the disruption of the last 12 months we want to reconnect with existing partners and meet new ones to be sure our agreements are fit for purpose and discuss how we can recruit students quickly, as a partnership with schools.”

Paolo Barilari is President of FELCA and Director of Italian agency Lingue nel Mondo spoke about the importance of partnership in this critical market:

“The Italian market is so important to the UK, and the UK is so important to the Italian market. We want to meet partners at StudyWorld to talk about how we can work together to rebuild and recover in 2021.

Oscar Porras, president of Spanish agency association Aseproce and director of Midleton School, emphasised the importance of clear agreements to doing business in 2021:

“After everything that has happened in the past 12 months, Aseproce agents want to meet partners at events in 2021, and StudyWorld and StudyWorld Summer are great opportunities to do that. There has been so much change in the market, we need to make our agreements completely solid for 2021 and work together to get students moving as soon as possible.”

Maura Leão, President of Belta and CEO of Yázigi Travel in Brazil thinks StudyWorld comes at the perfect time to reinvent and reconnect within the industry:

“2021 is the year for all of us, agents and educators, to reconnect and reinvent ourselves to be able to succeed within international education. UK is a beloved destination for Brazilian students and StudyWorld 21 in a new version is a great way to start this strategy.”