The Lausanne-based overseas educational consultant will join Linguista and take on the name of “AJS Linguista”.

Linguista said that the move will allow the company to “increasingly serve the French-speaking region of Switzerland”, having to date focused mainly on the German-speaking Swiss market.

“It is fantastic to be able to strengthen our position in the French speaking part of Switzerland,” Claudio Cesarano, CEO of Linguista Sprachaufenthalte, said.

“AJS fits perfectly into our portfolio as we share the same values and high quality standards in the education sector.”

“AJS fits perfectly into our portfolio”

Julia Steiner noted that her business is in “good hands”. Linguista will benefit from AJS’s reputation that has been built over three decades.

“After more than 30 years in the business, I am very pleased that AJS will continue as a high quality agency in the Linguista group,” Steiner said in a statement.

Early in the pandemic, ELT and study travel stakeholders predicted the sector would see consolidation in the market, with mergers and acquisitions likely.

In 2021, Bonard analysis suggested that the global market had begun to mature and had “naturally entered into a consolidation phase in its development, since reaching a peak in 2014”.