English language teaching - what's it worth?

Each year, over 500,000 people of all ages come to the UK to improve their English. English language teaching (ELT) generates around £1.2 billion in export earnings for the UK annually.

From Aberdeen to Torquay, international students bring wealth, connections and opportunity to our communities: students become friends of Britain, many of whom are destined to be leaders in business, politics and the media; and more than 25,000 jobs are supported by ELT across the UK, through its supply chain, employee and student spending, and its direct teaching activity.

There are also other positive impacts that are more difficult to quantify. Students can continue to contribute to the British economy when they return to their home country; they may be more likely to do business with the United Kingdom in the future, or return as a visitor, as a result of studying here.

To demonstrate just part of this enormous value, we have commissioned an assessment of the contribution of English language teaching to the UK economy. View the full report and summary infographic below.

• Supporting the British economy through teaching English as a foreign language
• Economic impact of English language teaching in the UK: infographic

Further reports, including a regional breakdown of the value of the UK ELT industry in 2013, can be found on the Publications and Reports page.

 

English UK's annual student statistics report

To support our members and the wider UK ELT sector with robust and sophisticated market intelligence, we produce an annual report looking at trends in UK ELT, student numbers and world markets.

This report is based on a range of market information from English UK members and is compiled and analysed by our insight partner StudentMarketing. The most recent report reviews data from 2015. It was published in May 2016.

• View the Student Statistics Report 2016 Executive Summary
• Annual report addendum - global comparisons 

Members can view the whole report on the Publications and Reports page. For more information, please contact Jodie Gray, head of market development: jodie@englishuk.com

 

Quarterly Intelligence Cohort

QUIC is a quarterly statistics initiative to give English UK member centres regular, in-depth reports by professional analysts every quarter. QUIC helps members identify market trends and opportunities, and ensures time-critical business decisions are based on robust data to help UK ELT thrive.