Making further headway into the high-end ELT market, language chain the OISE Group has launched a boutique school in the heart of London for corporate clients.
The school, which is based in upscale Fitzrovia, has welcomed professionals from Toshiba, KPMG and Banque de France who pay upward of £900 per week for business English training.
“It’s really designed for very ambitious and motivated students that don’t just want a holiday experience,” said Principal Glen Mitchell. “It’s not just English. We’re also preparing them for the international business world.”
Courses are designed to improve clients’ “performance on the international stage”, he said, and can cover cultural differences in business, presentation techniques, body language and voice projection.
The building has also been designed to reflect the corporate world, with breakout areas, pod classrooms and different furnishings between classrooms “to reflect the different types of lessons” given.
“We employed a group of architects who we worked very closely with, and got them to look at the building in a slightly different way,” Mitchell said.
“We wanted the building in some way to reflect the corporate world but also marry that with the academic world”
“We wanted the building in some way to reflect the corporate world but also marry that with the academic world. We also wanted a building with a lot of space with room for movement.”
OISE group, one of Europe’s biggest language chains, says it is leaning toward high price tag products across its four language brands after identifying a gap in the market. Last year it took on 22,000 students – up by 1,000 – but raised revenue by £4 million to £40 million thanks head of agent sales, Ward Lincoln.
OISE London is likely to raise profits further. Courses, which are sold in a package with homestay or other accommodation, cost as much as £2,100 per week for one-to-one teaching, although group courses come in cheaper. Academic English courses for students preparing for a career or further studies are also offered.
The school has averaged a low 40 students a week since opening in May, largely because of the Olympics says Mitchell, but it has capacity for 100 and an average student stay of two to three weeks.
“My expectation is that because the Olympics was so successful they will have very positive impact on future bookings, and things are certainly starting to look up,” he said. “Everyone that we’ve shown around has been impressed.”
