K Conference brought not just European and US providers to agents from around Asia but also aimed to unite Asian providers with agents in the region. Giljun Yang speaks with The PIE News about inter-Asia mobility, trends in Korea and what to expect from the second conference in April.
The PIE: What was the thinking behind the first K Conference? Why did you launch it?
GY: My original idea came because of the economic situation we’ve faced since 2008, especially how the Asian economies which had been affected by American economics. Korean agencies actually suffered quite a bit. While Asian demand for overseas study in general rose in this period – Korean demand increased a little bit for example, while Chinese demand grew a lot – the market shifted away from agencies towards direct recruitment by universities.
However, there were other areas of business emerging that made us less dependent on studying in the US and other traditional destinations. A growing number of students interested in studying English at junior level in the Philippines for instance. I also heard from agencies that education in Europe and the US was getting more expensive and that they were considering options within the region more seriously. So I wanted to start something that enabled agents to meet not only European and US education providers but also those in Vietnam, Japan, Burma, Mongolia, Tawian etc. These could be good markets too, so I wanted to bring Asian business into the mix.
The PIE: Do you see inter-Asia mobility growing?
GY: I think so. In Europe you have this excellent system, Erasmus, and many Asian governments are seeking a similar system which benchmarks them against each other. Korea, China and Japan for example have already agreed to set something up called Campus Asia which will boost exchange programmes. They plan to extend this to the rest of Asia in time, and then try and link it with Erasmus in Europe. We also have the ASEAN framework overseeing this sort of collaboration, and of course study hubs like Malaysia, Singapore and Korea growing all the time.
“European and American schools for example can come together to penetrate the Asian market, so why can’t we?”
The PIE: So Asian countries are working harder to attract overseas students?
GY: Yes, and I think it’s been driven by economics in many cases. Japan and China are all increasing scholarships, not just for Asians but Europeans, Americans and even Latin Americans. Our conference should help push things along too.
The PIE: At the first K Conference you brought China and Japan’s leading agency associations, BOSSA and JOSA, together for the first time. That was quite a coup…
GY: Yes, I was very excited about it. Everybody wanted to get students from China but the agent association would never appear at conferences. But I went by myself to meet BOSSA and persuaded them to come. We have 100,000 international students in Korea and nearly 70% are from China. But educators from Europe and Asia were also keen to meet them.
The PIE: Do you think Asian agency associations are starting to work more closely together?
“Japan and China are all increasing scholarships, not just for Asians but Europeans, Americans and even Latin Americans”
GY: I think so, because geographically it’s not difficult to meet each other. There’s just two hours between Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo – just like in Europe. So if we get them together then there’s a really good chance we’ll be able to do some good marketing. European and American schools for example can come together to penetrate the Asian market, so why can’t we? Another thing you see is conferences held in Europe where the majority of delegates are from Europe. Again we could do this more in Asia. Nowadays if people want to tap the Asian market they have to go to individual countries, which takes lots of time and cost money. K Conference brings the Asian educators and agents together, with educators from Europe and the US, and everyone can see each other at the same time. I think it’s a great idea.
The PIE: With the Korean market, what changes have you noticed this year? Which outbound destinations are growing?
GY: The US is still top for Korean students followed by the UK. However, in general I think the English learning market has decreased, the first big reason being the economic situation in Korea, which while not in crisis has seen slower levels of growth and needs to reform its economy.
The government has also made a huge investment in the local market, setting up English villages for example and in international boarding schools. Our government also wants to decrease the number of students studying abroad which they see as weak point in terms of trade. They want to bring it down from a current 300,000 to 200,000 by 2020 to make it more balanced with the 100,000 incoming. So the language sector is definitely on their radar; they want to train more at home.
“[The Korean Government] also wants to decrease the number of students studying abroad which they see as weak point in terms of trade”
I think this is why there is also a lot of negative media coverage of agency businesses in Korea. There is also a huge amount of money being invested in supporting universities, and universities are in effect becoming agencies themselves, sending thousands of students abroad. So the numbers from agencies are decreasing in this environment but still there are lots of agencies still doing very well.
The PIE: Are there any other issues affecting agencies? We reported on a commission discounting war early this year.
GY: That’s clearing up I think, as agencies are struggling to get students in the first place. Some of the agencies are also bankrupted because there are a high number of agencies in Korea and competition used to be very high, but now it’s harder. Also advertising on Google or Naver or other such portals has increased to about UK£5 a click. So many cannot afford to offer the low discounts they used to.
But I think it was not good for the industry. It’s hard for schools to meet the small basement agents that were offering the lower discounts through bigger wholesalers. And schools need to meet and train their agents out here.
The PIE: Have you seen any trouble from the UK market with the recent visa changes? Have other destinations started to look interesting?
“There should be even more Asian representation at this year’s K Conference
GY: I think the London Met incident did affect confidence in the market. However, as agents in Korea don’t handle university placement primarily, other things have affected us more. For example there are lots of free trade agreements between countries and Korea, which is the seventh largest exporter in the world and tenth largest importer. This has led to working holiday programmes with countries such as the UK, Australia and Canada which have hurt agencies. Now governments are involved we can’t take much commission on internships. Taiwan has seen the same thing, its agent market has become quite dependent on internships.
The PIE: What can we expect from the second K Conference in Jeju Island this April?
GY: I think we’ll have more Asian agencies, and more language schools, universities and other providers from Europe, America and Asia. It will offer good networking opportunities, allowing people to learn about the trends in Asia. And there should be even more Asian representation. Jeju island is also a great location – a honeymoon destination with a fantastic climate.
Geographically it’s a hub between China and Japan; it also has visa free arrangements for 180 countries, including China, Vietnam, Thailand and Taiwan. In addition, it is home to a number of new international schools like North London College and KIS from America, so delegates can check these out. By 2015, 12 Western schools will have opened branch campuses there. Everyone on the island also speaks in English.
