A recent newsletter issued by the ELT Council to all English teaching organisations highlighted a sense of optimism that seems to be felt within the industry due to the fact that while the summer season was positive but quieter than anticipated, the industry’s performance has shown a marked improvement compared to 2022 and that levels are slowly getting closer to the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.
The same sentiment has been echoed by Clubclass English language teaching school CEO Daniel Vella.
“Despite various pressures having an impact on our business, student numbers are gradually returning to pre-Covid levels, and we are very hopeful that 2024 will be a positive year that should finally see us match 2019 figures.”
Up to October, Clubclass had registered over 4,377 students who between them spent a total of 22,895 student weeks with their average length of stay being 5.4 weeks (the industry average is 4.3 weeks).
Vella explained how the outlook at Clubclass, luckily reflects that of most English language teaching schools in Malta’s ELT sector.
“The past three years have been very rough for most of us and perhaps the main consolation was that we were all in the same boat and we all supported each other. All the ELT schools rallied together under the leadership of FELTOM and we not only pulled the same rope, but we supported each other as best we could. At the same time, we all had to pull our socks and face the challenges as best we could.”
Vella explained how at the same time, those challenging times created an inspired sentiment for a more adventurous spirit. We started looking at new opportunities to reinvent ourselves by offering new programmes and services.
“This year, after a nearly 24-month hiatus, we decided to intensify our marketing efforts to sustain and grow our presence in the market. This year alone, we have already embarked on six different marketing trips where we had the opportunity to reconnect with our existing partners and to meet several new agents worldwide. We now have ten more marketing trips lined up for the coming six months.”
These efforts seem to be paying off and have led Clubclass to register impressive numbers from a highly varied mix of countries.
“Our largest market has been Brazil from where we have managed to attract close to 4000 student weeks followed by Colombia with close to 3000 weeks. We have also registered significant numbers from Japan (2,809), Italy (3,602), Turkey (1,532), Spain (1,543) and France (1,343).”
Vella continued to explain how Clubclass substantial investment in its facilities have allowed the school to strengthen its market share and meet the rising expectations from the new generation of English language learners.
“The maintenance and improvement of our accommodation facilities was very important and as a result, our quality score on TripAdvisor of the school’s on-site campus accommodation has also been seeing considerable improvement. The coming months will see us installing a new air conditioning system across all common areas of the student houses, hostel, and residence apartments as well as upgrades to our 24-hour reception, our ThinkFitness centre, a pool and an on-site restaurant to enhance the overall living experience.”
Possibly one of the most defining characteristics of Clubclass located in Swieqi is its sizeable fertile farm. The farm, nowadays known for its popular strawberry picking events held every year in April, offers a much-needed open space in the locality and plans are now in place to scale up deliveries and increased its product line.
“The farm is a unique selling point for us especially with our more environmentally conscious learners whom we try and involve throughout the changing seasons. In fact, after a long and hot summer, our farm team is currently busy preparing for the cooler months, sowing a variety of vegetables and we have also prepared a large field for planting new strawberries for the upcoming season.”
Vella admits that the sector has been navigating a very competitive market where quality continues to be a defining aspect in attracting learners and praised the ELT Council’s continued efforts in this regard by conducting scheduled monitoring visits and surprise spot checks.
“We agree wholeheartedly with the reality that standards have a direct influence on our competitiveness and the long-term sustainability of our industry.”
“From our end, we will continue supporting the industry’s shared goal to maintain Malta’s reputation as a top-quality ELT destination through a collective prioritisation of quality in everything we do,” concluded Vella.