Markus Badde is CEO of ICEF, a ‘networking’ company working between international educators and education agencies, best known for its agent workshops around the world. He talks to The PIE about his origins in the sector and how he sees the industry developing in the future.
The PIE: Tell me about how you started in the international education industry?
MB: That goes back a very long way – I grew up in a language school. My father had schools all over the Middle East, Polyglot Language Centres they were called, offering English, French and German for Arabs and Arabic for other nationalities. As a four year old, I was already folding language school brochures at the school. My father made his kids work!
Later on, he offered Arabic tuition for German, Japanese, Australian and Canadian diplomats in London and Beirut. So I grew up in language schools. Then in my teens I was an agent, we would send people to England and to Malta for English plus sports which was the new idea that was around then. I accompanied groups and picked students up at London airport before putting them on trains to various parts of the UK… I did that all through my teenage years.
Then when I was around 20, we started publishing language school guidebooks, the Where and How guides, then we moved into events, including Expolingua which is still going strong, in its 25th year. We also started the EAIE conference exhibition..
“As a four year old, I was already folding language school brochures at the school”
The PIE: Did you start the EAIE Exhibition (now a big event in the sector)?:
MB: Yes, I organised the first one in Montpelier and then in Berlin, it was my own project, and then I stopped, that’s when I left the industry. I went off to do my own thing and worked for Cisco Systems in marketing. I spent eight years in high-tech, then I “retired”.
The PIE: What did you do when you retired?
MB: I travelled the world, went to Australia, attended a mate’s wedding in Mexico, did some yoga retreats, I basically took a year off. I had worked hard and needed a rest. Then I received a phone call, my dad was very ill, so I went back to Germany to look after him. For 8 months I was his coach, driver and psychologist, among other things.
When he died I asked myself what was important. I could continue to travel or look for another job in the high-tech industry, or I could develop the business my father had started. I knew this industry and thought I could make something out of it. I learned a lot at Cisco, which had grown thirtyfold in size during the eight years I was there. I think I brought lots of knowledge with me from that fast-moving world, and I was able to apply my skills and ideas quickly at ICEF.
I’m not ashamed to say I think I have influenced this industry too. I brought fresh air from the corporate world into the world of international education.
“There are impressive numbers now but there is still a lack of professionalism and standards”
The PIE: Can you explain ICEF in a nutshell?
MB: As I said, when I came back it was just tables in a room and a seminar programme. Now I see us as kind of in the middle between agents and educators, a networking company – we have grown and have added on other things such as agent training, the ICEF Education Fund – helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds to get educated – the ICEF Monitor, and the ICEF Agent Barometer together with i-graduate, everything helping to make this industry grow and evolve. I think the industry is still in its infant years.
The PIE: Do you really think so?
MB: Not compared to 10 years ago, the industry is about 30 or 40 years old and we’ve come a long way. But I think in the future, this era will still be considered the early years. There are impressive numbers now, making billions contributing to countries’ export sectors. But there is still a lack of professionalism and standards, concerning agencies in some student source countries. Of course there are a growing number of associations and national initiatives to raise industry standards, but a lot of work remains to be done. So going back to your question about what is ICEF – we try to professionalise the industry.
The PIE: You are half-German, half Australian, yes? How many languages do you speak?
MB: I Speak eight – English, French, and German as “mother tongues”. My French is completely fluent because I was married to a French woman for 14 years and lived in Paris and Brussels for 20 years. Spanish I speak without having to think about it, Italian pretty well, Arabic because I lived in the Middle East; Dutch because of my time in Belgium, and some Portuguese.
“Having a multicultural outlook helps tremendously…the company is totally multicultural”
The PIE: How has this influenced ICEF?
MB: Having a multicultural outlook helps tremendously. We had a meeting today of 25 ICEF salespeople from all over world – I looked around the room and not a single person was German! Only two Austrians. I’m totally proud of that, that was just the sales team – the company is totally multicultural. That approach really helps a lot.
The PIE: How many staff and clients do you have?
MB: We have 60 staff worldwide of which 23 are in Bonn. Clients – I think it is around 3,000 in a given year.
The PIE: How do you see the industry developing – ICEF is moving into higher education [building their agent relations] a lot more [as well as working with the language sector].. [more>>]
MB: We launched our Higher Education event seven years ago in Trondheim [on the fringes of EAIE] and we had 20 educators – this year in Dublin, as you know, it was four times that amount – a 23% growth over last year in Copenhagen! So after seven years of slow and steady growth, our numbers have suddenly bumped up. Word has gotten around.
Universities tend to be a bit traditional and cautious, they like to find out which of their peers are already working with agents before they jump on the bandwagon, once they see other institutions working successfully with agents they are more likely to do the same. Currently, many are having funding issues, and are therefore considering working with agencies as a cost-effective recruitment method, and as a result it is all coming together now.
“Once universities see other institutions working successfully with agents they are more likely to do the same”
The PIE: And what about the agency side of business, how has that changed?
MB: When I joined, we had lots of agencies who used Hotmail as their email address – hardly a mark of professionalism. We now have a team focusing on different agent nationalities, screening and talking to agents all day. We used to have a team of administrators, now we have market experts: Agent Relations Managers. I made a rule two years ago, any agency without a website cannot come to our events.
That was tough to enforce, even internally, but we are very tough on quality standards. Agencies also respect this though, which is a good indicator of how they have evolved over the years. We introduced a recognition programme 2 years ago, the ICEF Agency Status, for agents that undergo regular vetting procedures with us, and many now proudly display the IAS logo which we award.
The PIE: Which region is there most change in industry? Is Asia a key area for agents?
MB: China and Asia have been and will be a powerhouse and this will not stop. Other countries showing growth are Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Vietnam.
“I made a rule two years ago, any agency without a website cannot come to our events”
The PIE: How have you got embedded in China?
MB: We have a very good office in China in Beijing, we have a 3-man team there; you can’t work in China without Chinese support. Networking with the government has helped us a lot. We have a Korean person with us for 15 years, a Japanese team member with us for 8 years. So for the three big markets, we have local staff. In China, there are the 438 agents on the official government list but we handle more than that. The government asks for two references; we ask for four – our screening is tougher than the government one. We have some exciting plans for China, but I can’t tell you yet!
The PIE: It seems as if ICEF has been expanding, with year on year growth..?
MB: Growth has indeed become exponential in the last few years.
The PIE: That’s not bad in recession-hit times.
MB: We’re very lucky in that sense, but then again, when the economy is bad, people invest in education, education has not suffered that much from the economic malaise. The US is one of places which has really taken off for us. After we launched a destination-focused event in Australia/New Zealand (ANZA), we changed the concept for our Miami workshop – no more European educators allowed, only North Americans – and since we did that, it has really taken off.
The whole agent debate with NACAC helps fuel awareness of working with agencies and I think there will be a positive outcome from all the signs. I think it’s a reality the US can’t really escape – the discussion is not about agents, yes or no; it is about quality agents yes, bad agents, no.
“The whole agent debate with NACAC helps fuel awareness…I think there will be a positive outcome”
The PIE: Do you see any new education destinations coming up through the ranks?
MB: China has been rising considerably for some years now. Not only in terms of a Higher Education study destination – over the last year there has been a proliferation of Mandarin language schools opening up across China. More and more people are seeing the value of learning the language of the world’s economic powerhouse, China.
I also think that India is not to be under-estimated, it could become a major destination. And there are other hubs we all know about, Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai… even Russia, we’ve seen a big spike in Russian institutions operating internationally… and finally also Turkey.
The PIE: Do you see student demand for destinations changing? Any big change in next 20 years?
MB: I think the US will still remain no. 1 –the US has always been no. 1 for 50 years just because it is the US. Now there are new initiatives happening such as AIRC. If the US got their act together and had one national agency such as the British Council or AEI in Australia, instead of having three different departments with conflicting opinions – State, Commerce and Education – then things could really really start cooking.
For me, the big surprise is how Canada has gone up. It shows that it is a very nice country to study in, very open and safe. It is North America without all the hassle, plus the easier ability to get visas and work after graduation. They’ve really pushed and worked hard, and the 2012 Agent Barometer results show that Canada has really gone up.
Australia – I read recently that there will be a lull until 2020, I doubt that. I think that is pessimistic, I give it a couple years more before it bounces back. I also think that continental Europe will be more effective as a study destination in the future – it’s a slow, simmering thing.
