Language learning

This week, The PIE sat down with Ruth Fenton, founder and director of Stafford House Study Holidays. We spoke about building her business, the challenges facing young people and global policy shifts.

Irish stakeholders have called for urgent clarity as English language students studying at a school in Limerick are left in the dark weeks after its apparent closure.

BorderPlus, co-founded by upGrad co-founder Mayank Kumar, is building on its presence in Germany, the GCC and Japan, with the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, France, and South Korea among the markets it is looking to target over the longer term.

Growing scrutiny of international student recruitment is prompting universities to place greater emphasis on trusted and accessible English language assessments.

ELT providers in Ireland have welcomed a new measure that lets eligible international students stay in the country between completing an English language program and progressing to higher education.

UK qualifications regulator Ofqual has fined Cambridge English £875,000 following an investigation into automated marking errors that led to incorrect IELTS results being issued to more than 62,000 learners worldwide between 2023 and 2025.

The Duolingo English Test (DET) has revealed its patent-pending ear scan technology that uses the DET’s mobile app to detect hidden earbuds being used to cheat exams.

UK politicians have aired their concerns over plans to introduce a fully remote Home Office-backed English language test, suggesting the model exposes the country to a weaker immigration system.

The English language teaching (ELT) sector in the UK is seeing a fall in student weeks, but demand from the junior market remains resilient as economic and geopolitical headwinds take effect.

Skills minister Jacqui Smith has hailed English language teaching as a “very important strand” of the UK’s international education strategy, as English UK urges the government to accelerate reforms on youth mobility.

Alex Mayer and Vanessa Lemm have been named the top winners of the 2026 Duolingo Language Challenge, after competing against more than 1,300 parliamentarians and university staff across the UK.

Canada’s language education sector has been hit hard by a combination of pandemic disruption, policy change and closures, but a new Joint Pathway Program is emerging as a focal point for renewal.

Several English language schools in Ireland are under scrutiny over their failure to refund prospective international students whose visa applications have been refused.

Language travel has long been associated with younger learners. But a fast-growing demographic – the over-50s – is redefining who study abroad is for.

Inspirit Capital – a UK-based investment company specialising in corporate carveouts – is acquiring language-learning giant Kaplan Languages Group (KLG) from Kaplan, The PIE can reveal.