EF language school this week opened its refurbished St Julian’s premises which will enable it to seek further growth in business after that reached in recent years.
EF Malta this year registered a growth of between 26-28% when other branches in the rest of the world registered some 10% growth on average.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, after Tourism Minister Mario de Marco toured the building, the school’s director, Roger Bugeja, said 500 host families help out by hosting students as part of their programme. Training for the staff is continuous and the school also works in strong collaboration with the government and the MTA, especially on marketing initiatives.
As from mid-October, the school will be starting evening courses for foreign employees working in Malta and who would like to improve their English.
The school first opened in Malta in 1994.
EF President Eva Kockum pointed out the school had close to 20,000 students this year, and this was the largest growth the company has experienced. The majority of students come from Europe but EF Malta also gets students from Brazil, China, Mexico and Ecuador, among other countries.
In fact, as Dr de Marco later remarked, the school is focusing on attracting more non-European students because their stays tend to be much longer than those of Europeans. They are also working to address the seasonality issue and have more students coming here in the winter months. For this reason, they are trying to target the 25+ age segment.
Ms Kockum remarked that they often face challenges to get non-Europeans because of visa issues, especially for longer stays. This is something the government is aware of and work is under way with the European Commission since this is not something Malta can decide on.
EF Malta plans further investment next year and estimates it will spend around $1 million on work at the school and marketing initiatives. It plans to have all its summer centres on the same level of quality as the newly-refurbished school.
Moreover, it is hunting for premises that can host the school and residential premises in the same location.
Because staff training is a priority for EF, it is holding a conference in Malta that starts today and which will bring together sales people from all over the world. Dr de Marco said success in tourism comes from many niche markets and English language teaching is among the most important.
He pointed out that 70,000 students come over every year and EF has a third of this market share. The company is present in 60 countries and has some 500 offices around the world.
The sector needs to be sustainable for the long term and consequently, it must be ensured that students come here throughout the year. Besides getting older students, schools must also try to attract different source markets.
While European students stay for two weeks on average, the average length of stay of a Korean is nine weeks. He added that EU Commissioner Antonio Tajani, who is responsible for Industry and Entrepreneurship, is very receptive to visa issues concerning students willing to study in Europe.