For the first time this year, as well as UED members, the voting has been opened up to selected non-member agencies that “share the same business ethics” as the organisation, UED coordinator Gokhan Islamoglu told The PIE News.

“We have increased the sectoral representation capacity of the awards without reducing its sense of quality,” he said.

“Face-to-face meetings and long-term relationships are crucial in a market like Turkey”

With schools in 20 cities worldwide, EC English was named the best language chain school for the first time in this year’s awards.

ILAC celebrated its third year as the best English language school in Canada, as voted by the agencies, while EC English in Malta and Atlas Language School in Ireland held their titles for a second year in a row.

Embassy English took the top spot in Australia, after being voted best chain in the first awards in 2013, while ELS English Centers in the US and the London School of English in the UK both reclaimed their titles after winning in the inaugural awards.

Neil Futerill, market manager for Turkey at The London School of English, said that the school has identified Turkey as a key target market for growth.

“Face-to-face meetings and long-term relationships are crucial in a market like Turkey,” he commented.

“I was absolutely delighted to hear that we had won the award,” he added. “We admire and support [UED’s] goal of creating a definite standard for the international educational consulting sector, a sector that is saturated with language consultants, highly-competitive, and relatively poorly regulated.”

Embassy was also named the UK’s best summer school, alongside Humboldt Institut in Germany and Ecole des Roches in France.

In the other language categories, French in Normandy in France, Enforex in Spain and DID-Deutsh in Germany were all named the best providers for their respective languages for the third year in a row.

Meanwhile a new entrant, Dilit International House Rome, was named best Italian language school.

“The Turkish market is mainly long-term language study, but there’s also a growing junior market, and these are both areas where trust in your partner school is absolutely critical,” noted Jan Capper, executive director of independent schools association IALC, of which Dilit, The London School of English and French in Normandy are all members.

Turkish Airlines was named Airline of the Year for 2015, while Canada-based guard.me took home the Insurance Company of the Year accolade, both for the third year in a row.

The 2015 winners in full

Best English language school – USA: ELS Language Centers
Best English language school – UK: The London School of English,
Best English language school – Canada: ILAC
Best English language school – Australia: Embassy English
Best English language school – Malta: EC English
Best English language school – Ireland: Atlas Language School

Best French language school: French in Normandy
Best German language school: DID-Deutsh
Best Italian language school: Dilit International House Rome
Best Spanish language school: Enforex

Best chain language school: EC English

Best summer school – UK: Embassy English
Best summer school – Germany: Humboldt Institut
Best summer school – France: Ecole des Roches

Best airline: Turkish Airlines
Best insurance company: guard.me