Starting an English school in
Belfast
What's the future for the ELT business in Northern Ireland? "Very good," according to Jonathan Dykes, Chief Executive of the IHLS Group. We spoke to him when he was on the point of opening a new school in Belfast.
iT's: Why Belfast?
Jonathan Dykes: There are all sorts of reasons. First and foremost, Belfast is currently one of the United Kingdom's most interesting and exciting cities. The sectarian tensions are now a thing of the past and Belfast has suddenly opened up to the outside world. Investment is pouring in and the city is developing all in sorts of ways.
There
is also very little competition in the city. There are only a few private
language schools, and Queens University runs some English language courses
in the summer, but compared to most towns and cities in both the United
Kingdom and Ireland, the EFL business in Belfast hasn't yet got going.
This provides us with a number of significant advantages: for example,
there is very little competition for accommodation, so it should be
relatively easy to find good families and apartments near the school;
also, as there are very few language schools, there are very few foreign
students in Belfast and that means there's less likelihood of our students
spending all their time socialising with people in their own language.
Another reason for setting up the school in Belfast is that the city is surrounded by some stunningly beautiful and unspoilt countryside. There are dozens of amazing places to visit, and anyone who enjoys sports and outdoor activities is going to have a great time.
Last but not least, Belfast is still relatively inexpensive compared to most other destinations in Britain and Ireland, which means we can offer courses and accommodation at very competitive prices
iT's: So once you decided that Belfast was the place to open a school, what were the first steps?
J. D.: There were three key issues we had to address before we could get very far.
First, finance. I had to work out how much setting up the school would cost and how much we would need to run the school for the first year or two. Once I'd done that, I then had to work out how we could fund the investment and when we could expect to receive a return. Fortunately, interest rates are still quite low, so borrowing money to help fund the investment was feasible.
Next,
we had to be confident that we would be able to find a great building
at an affordable price. This involved a couple of visits to Belfast
to see which part of the city would be most suitable for us, as well
as investigating what sort of properties were available. We also had
to decide whether to buy or rent our building. In the end we opted to
buy as property prices in Belfast have been rising very fast over the
last few years and I was afraid that if we waited too long, we could
find ourselves priced out of the market.
The third issue we had to resolve was staffing. We had to find someone who could get the school up and running and then continue to run it effectively. We were fortunate in that we were able to recruit a couple of people who had previously worked and/or trained with us in Barcelona. Paul McMullen, who will be the school director, was born and brought up in Belfast but spent several years teaching in Spain before he decided to move back home. Nathalie Verdoene, who will work as the school's office manager, was born in Belgium but also spent several years in Barcelona working as office manager for Net Languages - our Web-based language school - before moving to Belfast with Paul.
iT's: So did you manage to find a suitable building?
J. D.: Yes, we found the perfect building on University Street, which, as the name suggests, is in the city's university district. This area has dozens of shops, bars and restaurants and is full of good accommodation, so we think it's perfect. The building itself is made up of two four-storey Victorian houses which have been knocked together. The building has been modernised but still has a number of original features, such as stained-glass windows, decorative ceilings and so on. Apart from the reception and offices, we will have 12 large classrooms as well as a study room and a kitchen/dining area. There's also a small garden patio.
iT's: Will you have to do any work to the building?
J. D.: Some, but most of the work will be cosmetic - changing carpets, painting the walls, that sort of thing. We'll also have to install new phone and Internet systems, so there's plenty to do.
iT's: What will be different about IH Belfast?
J. D.: I think there are several things that will make IH Belfast different. For example, it will be the first quality language school in Belfast that offers courses all year round with properly trained teachers. We also want IH Belfast to be a high-tech language school, so most classrooms will have data projectors as well as interactive whiteboards. This will enable teachers to use a wider range of teaching resources. The school will also have WiFi Internet access so students and teachers will be able to use their laptops anywhere in the building.
iT's: What sort of courses will you offer?
J. D.: We want to offer a wide range of courses so that we can cater for students with different interests and needs. Our Standard English course will consist of 20 hours of tuition per week. This course will be available all year and at all levels for adult students.
We will also offer students on a Standard Course the possibility of taking an extra hour per day in our Internet room, where they will be able to work with the interactive language courses we have developed at Net Languages.
We also plan to offer a course called English at Work, designed for students who want to find paid employment in Northern Ireland after their English course.
We will offer very intensive tailor-made immersion courses for businesspeople who need to learn a lot in a short space of time.
We also plan to offer courses in the summer for teenagers (aged 13-17) which will be based in a private residential college just outside the city.
iT's: When do you expect the school to open?
J. D.: If everything goes according to plan, we hope to be able to open in March 2007.
iT's: And where do you expect your students to come from?
J. D.: From all over the world. We already have an extensive network of specialist language agents based in dozens of different countries and we hope that at least some of these agents will be able to send us students. We also hope to be able to recruit students directly through our website.
iT's: How easy do you think it will be to market Belfast as a destination for students?
J.
D.: These things always take time, but Belfast has so much going
for it - relatively low costs, very welcoming and friendly people, not
too many other foreign students, lots of interesting things to do and
see - that we're confident that students who come to the school will
have a great time, and then they'll tell their friends and then these
friends will tell other people. In this way word will spread that Belfast
is a great destination and that IH Belfast is a great school.
iT's: You're also opening a school in Bogotá. Is opening schools in unusual places a new trend?
J. D.: The school in Bogotá will concentrate on teaching English to the local community, although we also plan to offer Spanish courses to students from other countries. I don't think opening schools in cities such as Bogotá and Belfast is a trend; it's more a question of making the most of opportunities in the market. Both Belfast and Bogotá have had a troubled past, but both cities are currently enjoying a period of tremendous growth - which just goes to show what can happen when communities reject violence and opt for peaceful coexistence and political stability. We've simply identified Belfast and Bogotá as two cities that are undergoing a profound transformation and we're hoping to make the most of these changes to launch our businesses and offer a quality service to our students.
iT's: Thanks. And good luck with the schools!
You can find out more about IH Belfast at www.ihbelfast.com.