English UK promotes UK ELT at the ICEF Middle East Summit in Oman
Our Membership Director, Huan Japes, and Chair, Shoko Doherty, represented English UK and the UK ELT sector at the ICEF Middle East Scholarship and Partnership Summit, held in February at the Kempinski Hotel in Muscat, Oman.
The summit welcomed over 70 scholarship organisations from across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) as well as Iraq and Libya. Over 100 educators and service providers attended, primarily from higher education institutions in more than 20 countries.
The summit provided a valuable opportunity to promote the strengths of UK English language provision.
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Strong engagement and interest
Through targeted meetings and participation in key roundtables, Huan and Shoko highlighted member expertise in IELTS preparation, English for special purposes, leadership development, and young learner programmes.
They found interest was also strong in in-country teacher training projects, particularly from Iraq and Kurdistan.
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Here are some of our key takeaways
While most GCC national programmes have shifted away from standalone English language scholarships, organisations remain keen to collaborate on pathway, foundation, and specialist English programmes.
There's demand for specialised English courses like IELTS preparation, English for the oil and gas industry, medical English, and English for military use as well as related leadership and business programmes.
Interest was also shown in young learner courses for staff families, and Iraq and Kurdistan are actively looking for in-country teacher training partnerships. UK providers saw good engagement and are following up on opportunities. English UK are also working with the UK government to boost the visibility of UK ELT in the region.
"We were delighted by the strong engagement seen at the event and are following up on a range of new opportunities," said Huan Japes.
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