ISC Research Newsletter: June 2009
Newsletter: June 2009
In This Issue:
- Is the international schools market contracting?
- Country Focus on South Korea
- International School News Roundup
- What are the advantages to being a subscriber
- See a demo of the system in Adobe Flash
Current Market Size
| Current Market Size | |
|---|---|
| Total number of English-medium international schools (not including future schools) | 5,422 |
| Total number of students | 2,241,641 |
| Changes since January 1st | |
| New school records | 208 |
| Updated (many schools are updated several times a year) | 3,495 |
| Checked | 2,875 |
| Heads updated (names and/or email addresses) | 687 |
| Heads checked | 2,564 |
| Emails changed | 937 |
Is the international schools' market contracting?
Are international schools in Dubai shutting their doors due to a mass exodus of expatriates? Has construction stopped on new school builds in China? What is really happening with the international schools' market around the world this year?
Newspaper reports do have a tendency to sensationalise the impact of the present worldwide situation so here are the real facts about the market. The majority of international schools predict that enrolment for the 2009-2010 academic year will remain the same or will increase. Very few schools predict a decrease in enrolment. No single school has announced it will close.
As well as continual data collection from individual international schools by ISC Research, there have also been a number of surveys carried out by related associations that confirm this. One survey by COBIS (Council of British International Schools) shows that 47% of its member schools expect enrolment in the 2009-2010 school year to stay the same, 37% of its schools expect to increase enrolment and only 16% anticipate a decrease. Another similar survey by AISH (Academy of International School Heads) shows that again 47% of its membership expects enrolment to remain static, 32% to increase and 16% to decrease.
The schools predicting the biggest decrease are those heavily dependent on expatriate parents who are working for corporations that are significantly downsizing. This is most notable for schools in countries that do not yet allow local children to attend the international schools; making intake entirely dependent on expatriate families. However, relatively few countries now restrict intake in such a way, as a result making this - the changing face of student intake - the biggest phenomenon of the international schools market in recent times.
The first international schools were established simply to meet the educational needs of expatriate children. However, as the number of international schools has grown and their reputation for providing quality education has become established, an increasing demand for places has been sought by local national families who value an English-medium education and the wider opportunities for higher education that this creates. It is now widely accepted that there are tremendous opportunities for students who have attended international schools, with the world's top universities consistently competing for the best students. As wealth in many countries increase, so this demand for school places by the indigenous population is rising.
This is why the global recession is not having such an impact on the international school market as many assume. The highly accelerated growth in the market over the past three years (a 62% increase in the overall number of schools worldwide with most significant growth in China, India, Pakistan, the UAE and Thailand) will abate to some extent, but overall there is confidence throughout the market that most international schools will weather the financial storm and a significant number will continue to prosper.
The latest market data (broken down by major city, by country and by region) is available at www.iscr-r.com along with a daily feed of industry news from all reputable worldwide news sources. ISC Research maps the world's international schools and analyses developments in the international schools market. Its data is used by universities and colleges recruiting international students as well as a range of commercial suppliers, from educational publishers and software houses to curriculum providers, educational consultancies, management information systems and recruitment organisations, many of whom are now designing products and services specifically for the international school market presently valued at GBP11.5 billion (USD16.3 billion) and predicted, by 2020 to be GBP24 billion (USD34 billion).
Country Focus: South Korea
| International Schools in South Korea | |
|---|---|
| 53 | Total number of schools |
| 13,966 | Total number of students |
| 1,290 | Total number of staff |
| 37 | Number of schools offering education for 3-5 year olds |
| 43 | Number of schools offering education for 5-11 year olds |
| 35 | Number of schools offering education for 11-13 year olds |
| 34 | Number of schools offering education for 13-16 year olds |
| 30 | Number of schools offering education for 16-18 year olds |
| 5 | Number of schools offering all or part UK curriculum |
| 30 | Number of schools offering all or part US curriculum |
| 36 | Number of schools offering all or part international curriculum |
International School Roundup
QATAR: Sherborne School opens its doors
INDIA: Podar education trust to start two schools
KOREA: How many schools are really international
PHILIPPINES: Korean School to Open in Manila in September
KOREA: 7 more international schools planned
SWITZERLAND:International School of Geneva expanding
AUSTRALIA: foreign students pay $34m in tuition fees
AUSTRALIA: Adelaide sees 24% increase in international students
These news stories are a small sample taken from the ISC Research Online System.
For more information call ISC Research on 01367 246007 or email tl@isc-r.com.
What are the advantages to being a subscriber?
By subscribing to ISC Research Limited you will gain access to the richest schools market in the world. This market is growing at an extraordinary rate and almost certainly has a greater value than the current UK schools market. Many companies spend a huge amount marketing and selling to UK schools and very little internationally. Yet compared to UK schools, schools abroad are often isolated and have little access to information, representatives, presentations etc. Sales prospects are enormous and they are getting bigger day by day. Using ISC Research Limited's online system subscribers can map, analyse, target and contact over 4,600 English-medium schools worldwide. Taking the current annual growth rate of 11% there will be nearly 6,000 schools by 2010, well over 10,000 schools by 2015 & over 15,000 by 2020.
As well as researching new schools, the underlying database is constantly researched and updated to reflect innumerable changes in basic school information. ISC Research Limited specializes in providing detailed, up-to-date information about existing international schools, emerging international schools and trends in the market.
With the system you can:
- Analyse and target schools by geography, curriculum, examinations, membership of associations, pupil age, etc. using Search
- Show results using a graphics interface
- Access the up-to-date international schools News Section
- Use the Market Overview and Statistics Section to follow trends
- Find and contact international school organisations
- Manage communications appropriately and effectively with integrated e-mail and mailing utilities
- Single or multiple user subscriptions are available to suppliers, service organisations and parents.
- For free temporary access and system demonstration contact ISC Research Limited.
We really like this new service. Cambridge International Examinations
has been able to use the ISC Research service as a one-stop shop for
targeting and contacting schools. The service is extremely useful: the
data is much more comprehensive and up-to-date than anything else and we
are able to find new schools as they open.
Peter Monteath,Research & Strategy Manager,
University of Cambridge International Examinations
The Council of International Schools (http://www.cois.org) is
delighted, on behalf of its member schools, with this new arrangement
with ISC Research, that gives our members access to the substantive data
held by ISC on International Schools around the world. CIS is providing
ISC with the public domain data it holds on its member schools, while
both organisations will feed each other up-dated data, so ensuring that
entries are current. CIS will continue to collect compensation data as
part of its joint annual survey with ECIS, but this data will remain
confidential and will, as in the past, only be made available to member
schools who have responded to the survey.
Richard Tangye, Executive Director of CIS
ISC Research has enabled me rapidly to develop a marketing strategy
for international schools. Targeted marketing in this highly lucrative
sector would have been impossible otherwise. I recommend this to anyone
seriously interested in this market.
Ian Bourne, Managing Director, Citnexus
The new arrangements give both organisations and member schools
access to the vast amount of non-confidential data held by ISC Research
about the rapidly growing number of international schools around the
world. It would be impossible for us or member schools to do this work
ourselves. We look forward to working with ISC Research on appropriate
research projects.
Roger Fry, Chair of COBIS
I am so impressed that the new system
can do this (store files on the server so that they may be sent as
links) - it's great that the file does not appear as an attachment which
means it is a great way for us to reach international schools with our
catalogue.
Alice Hutt: Classroom Video
