Agents from around the globe were in London this week for the Study World fair. We met with agent Izabella Lauterpakht who has worked in the industry for over two decades as the owner of System-3 Education for first-hand insight on the lucrative Russian market.
The PIE: You’ve got quite a history in the Russian market. How have you seen it develop?
“I started with my own students and now they’re maximum 5% of my business. The rest are mainly through word of mouth”
IL: I started working as an agent in 1994, almost at the same time as the market which started maybe half a year earlier. At first there were with several students going to Britain but it wasn’t large scale until 1996 and then the junior market appeared and language travel became quite popular. And then boarding schools and higher education boomed. Initially they were mostly interested in only going to Britain but now it’s everywhere.
The PIE: How did you get into the industry?
IL: I have a language school and we will celebrate 25 years in May next year. We offer several languages but English predominates. So we started doing English language teaching and then developed into an agency. Funnily I started with my own students and now they’re maximum 5% of my business. The rest are mainly through word of mouth, repeating students. Some things come that we anticipate but a large percentage are coming because of word of mouth.
The PIE: How many students do you send abroad annually?
IL: We send about 200 students abroad. 150 for language schools, 80% of them go to Britain.
The PIE: What’s your clientele like?
IL: It’s equal adults and juniors but during the summer its predominately juniors. This year we sent about 100 to summer camps, but it’s interesting because we’re sending a 63 year old professor who to study in Chesire. Today the owner of the school told me she would be staying with his family. I was delighted.
“The four-month strike in Canada has made my summer business there non-existent”
The PIE: Other than the UK, what other markets are attractive to Russian students right now?
IL: Germany is the biggest of other languages for us. French is ok. Some go to Spain, some to Italy but those markets were down for us this year because I think direct bookings especially in Spain are bigger because of the visa. It’s so easy for adults to get the visa to Spain that they don’t need us. Russians need a visa to go everywhere!
The PIE: Is that a challenge?
IL: It is and the four-month strike in Canada has made my summer business there non-existent. Long-term students are starting to get their visas but very slowly. It is interesting those who go to state institutions and to boarding schools are getting their visas faster than those who go to language schools. I think because state institutions are able to push the government harder.
The PIE: What’s been the largest trend you’ve seen in the market in your 20 years?
IL: The turnover of generations that begin the early 2000s. You see more and more young faces of agents and you see more and more young faces of education providers. Which is good but sad because during these years you meet friends and you have special relationships with some people. It’s lucky if the family takes over but it doesn’t happen all the time. The saddest thing happens when the owner of the school wants to retire and can’t give it to a family member to continue because you can’t guarantee it will be the same. There are some schools that have been sold three or four times in the past 13 years.
The PIE: Could the turnover also be partly due to the industry maturing as well?
“There are much fewer independent schools and I find it sad”
IL: Yes. There are much fewer independent schools and I find it sad. I cannot say the big chains provide bad quality service I just prefer to go with smaller schools because I’m very personal. I form friendships and it’s easier to form friendships with smaller operations than with bigger operations. It’s harder to know the staff in bigger operations.
Having said that, we work with three bigger operations too especially in university preparation courses and pathways. University campuses are all big providers. There are nice independent colleges providing foundation, providing GCSEs but actually they’re mainly big operations. What can we do? It’s necessary and maybe in this respect it’s even better when because they have more influence on universities.
The PIE: The Russian government has launched programmes to help students study abroad and has recently withdrawn them. Do you think those will be picked up again soon?
IL: They are planning but as far as I know there are no government subsidies yet. And when it does happen it will be only for Masters degree students and for very good students to go to a very limited list of top universities.
The PIE: Russia is becoming quite an important source market for many educators. What’s your outlook for the next 5-10 years?
IL: It is a big market for juniors and for boarding schools. Speaking about boarding schools, students are starting to get younger and younger. The beginning of the market was 15 or 16 now 13 is considered the normal age and sending students at 11 is starting to become popular.
“The most expensive programmes with high reputations get filled up first”
The PIE: What do Russian parents look for when they send their child abroad?
IL: The most expensive programmes with high reputations get filled up first in September and October because most of them have limits for Russian speaking students. There is one Swiss camp that only give Russian families three days to to register online. They have to present references from schools, some character references and you have to know exactly what days you want and rush to the site to get a place.
I would be less stressed if the registration started later but bookings are starting earlier and earlier and by the time a nice client remembers you the best places are filled up.
The PIE: So is supply not meeting demand?
IL: No there are many schools. If a school says they don’t have any more places for Russians we just got to another school and another school and another school. In February we were in a situation where we had to ask seven schools for one place. It was amazing!
