ILSC and ELS reveal merger

ILSC which offers English, French or Hindi language courses at schools in Australia, Canada, and India, along with vocational training at Greystone College, will grow its reach with the US-based language provider.

“We have collectively expanded our reach and are now in three of the big four top destinations for language travel,” CEO of ILSC Education Group, Paul Schroeder, told The PIE.

“In due course, we will be looking at ways we can enter the UK market – [this merger] has brought those plans to the forefront.”

The news of the merger comes after ILSC recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.

“We are excited to be bringing two organisations with such rich histories together”

Both companies have had extensive experiences in international education, providing “transformative learning and living experiences” – ELS in particular has been in operation for over 60 years.

The aim of the merger is to use their combined expertise to enhance their program and destination offerings.

“We are excited to be bringing two organisations with such rich histories together to offer the international student community multiple options to pursue their language, higher education and career goals,” said Schroeder and Curt Uehlein, CEO of ELS upon the announcement.

The company has made clear despite the shift that it will “maintain all current support and communications contacts” for current customer sand partners – including over 800 university partners across the globe.

ILSC and Greystone College also launched a pre-arrival online English test in 2021 as a reference point to help students plan their study length and budget.

As well as language and IELTS testing centres across the US, ELS also has an English language centre in Vancouver, Canada.

Since 1961, ELS has helped more than 1.2 million students from over 143 countries around the world learn English.

The company has 12 class levels, “state-of-the-art” language centres, a diverse range of support services including testing services and university admission assistance services. It has 12 locations across the US.

In 2021, BONARD calculated that 156 ELT centres were acquired or merged during 2019, with the number dropping during the pandemic to 21 in 2020 and eight UK transactions in 2021.