EC English Language Centres Closure in Australia and New Zealand

The impact of the pandemic on language schools and ELT institutions resulted in new innovative ways of teaching and new ways of recruitment of students but also it has led to reducing the staff and closures of schools or centres.

One of the multi-centre institutions has been deciding on which centres to strengthen and which ones to close and yet remain a strong institution allowing international students to access award-winning language programmes.

The EC English Language Centres has been operating schools in eight different destinations but because of some countries being more cautious to open their borders, EC decided to close some of its centres.  

CEO Andrew Mangion said “We want to focus on the destinations that we believe are most open and willing to bounce back. Australia and New Zealand have clearly shut their borders indefinitely with no credible expectation as to when they will be re-opened. We strongly believe that running language centres in such an environment, particularly where such countries are no longer prepared to support the impacts that their border closures are having on our industry is unsustainable.”

EC decided to close all its centres in Australia and New Zealand and select centres in the UK and USA.

The chain is positive about the recovery and the demand of the students to travel but decided to prioritize the stronger, more sustainable future of centres in some destinations to the number of centres.

The destination that is hoped by EC to get a boost is Canada. EC recently decided to cooperate with Air Canada to offer its students 15% off the cost of their plane tickets when they fly to Canada directly with Air Canada in 2021. The partnership will create a better, more cost-effective experience for students travelling from all over the world to Canada.

Martine Mangion, Director of Operations for EC said about the partnership: “Students are eager to travel to Canada to achieve their dreams of studying, working and immigrating and we are excited that this partnership with Air Canada will make it more affordable for them to travel in these tough times.”

In addition to reduced fares, if the students fly with Air Canada, they can also take an advantage of a new Montreal and Toronto Multi-destination Package that can be ideal for long term students. This will allow the students to start their stay in Montreal where the accommodation is cheaper and then continue their study journey in Toronto. The full details of the package can be found on the EC English Language Centres website.