The award ceremony took place at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was attended by 115 guests.

“The PABA’s aim to recognise educational agencies who work from a base of integrity, innovation and strategy”

The awards were established by Aly Rajab, President and CEO of CLLC, an English language school in Canada, three years ago.

This year saw the introduction of a new category: Dynamic Agency of the Year, which Stefan Ferron, vice president of CLLC, said is to “recognise the smallest agencies”.

This was won by English Experience Intercambios in Brazil.

The Agency of the Year award was won by Woori Education, based in South Korea.

ICEA in Ukraine was the recipient of the Small Agency of the Year award, and the New Agency of the Year award was won by Extudia in Colombia.

“The PABA’s aim to recognise educational agencies who work from a base of integrity, innovation and strategy, and who go the extra mile to take care of their students,” Ferron told The PIE News.

“The winners are chosen by an independent panel of three judges from the business world who follow a standardized and rigorous criteria,” he said.

“They go through each application individually and provide their scores. These are then combined for a final overall score.”

The five criteria are strategic plan and vision; community involvement; organisational culture; business innovation; facts and figures; and customer service.

Full list of winners:

Agency of the Year
Gold – Woori Education (South Korea)
Silver – Ad Astra (Mexico)
Bronze – Egitim-Al (Turkey)

Small Agency of the Year
Gold – ICEA (Ukraine)
Silver – Sindibad (Saudi Arabia)
Bronze – Top Class Study Co. (South Korea)

New Agency of the Year
Gold – Extudia (Colombia)
Silver – ICLA Mali (Mali)
Bronze – Edustore (Turkey)

Dynamic Agency of the Year
Gold – English Experience Intercambios (Brazil)
Silver – Idealangues (France)
Bronze – RIKS Education Agency (Uzbekistan)