David Scott, co-founder of ELC – whose wife Lyn collected the award  – told The PIE News that the award recognised the success of ELC Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur since it was established two years ago.

Established in the late sixties between Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has grown to include Burma, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Scott explained that it was the goal of  the ASEAN network to work towards single market integration by the end of 2015, along the lines of the European Union, that led to the company to seeing an opportunity to develop a business in Malaysia around English language proficiency and supplying native English teachers to work within Malaysia’s education infrastructure.

“We work with governments and directly with schools and universities on teaching and training programs with the goal of improving English teaching and learning standards,” he explained.

“Because of the innovative nature of the programmes and the positive response from schools and universities we have received we were nominated for this award.”

The judging panel looked at a unique customised program that ELC Malaysia ran in 2014 at Universiti Malaysia Kelantan (UMK) in Khota Bharu, where 15 English teachers were integrated into the university community for one semester.

“We work closely with the schools to maximise the benefits of having native speaker teachers”

“The idea is to provide cost-effective and large scale solutions knowing that for the great majority in the region, study abroad is beyond their means,” added Scott.

The school also provides a range of programmes for aspiring students in the region. “We have over 300 students from about 20 countries studying general English, academic English and business English as well as study tours and one-to-one business English,” related Scott. “The KL school gives us a unique footprint in the region and a base from which to operate.”

ELC also operates teacher training and teacher placement programmes in Vietnam and Thailand as well as Malaysia, and Scott said Myanmar is being considered as a new opportunity.

“We work closely with the schools to maximise the benefits of having native speaker teachers so we are not just acting as a recruitment agency,” he underlined. “We are education consultants with very specific expertise in ELT.”

In Vietnam this year, ELC will recruit, train and place over 300 English teachers to work in public primary and secondary schools for a semester.