Big ambitions, small providers: ELT faces growth test under new UK strategy

In January, the UK government published its refreshed international education strategy, which includes an ambitious aim to grow education exports to £40bn per year by 2030.

The strategy signalled the government moving away from targeting increased enrolments, instead making clear that growth should come from areas such as English language training (ELT), transnational education (TNE) and edtech sectors – worth some £560m, £3bn and £3.89bn in exports respectively.

Speaking to The PIE News at the 2026 StudyWorld event, Huan Japes, membership director of English UK, commented on the strategy: “There’s a very marked focus on TNE, that’s very clear. They would like a lot of organisations to move towards TNE type of opportunities. So I think we would have no choice but to look at that from our members’ perspective.”

Many smaller ELT providers will need to adapt, explained Japes, pointing to overseas summer camps and in-country delivery as potential growth routes for providers looking to adapt to a more TNE-focused landscape.

Elsewhere, he suggested that other smaller providers, including those focused on teacher training, could benefit from forming consortiums in order to bid for tenders and larger commercial contracts.

The government is drawing on expertise from the international education sector through a reformed ministerial group known as the Education Sector Action Group (ESAG) – a collective tasked with tackling key concerns and identifying partnership opportunities.

Each representative will develop an action plan drawing on how its members will support the IES’s three main goals to be published within the first 100 days of their accession to ESAG. As yet it is unclear who will be included in the group but Japes is hopeful that the ELT sector will be represented in this group.

“I think the difference between this and the previous international education strategy is it’s pushing much more onto the actual sector bodies responsible to come up with a coherent plan for growth,” he said.

I think the difference between this and the previous international education strategy is it’s pushing much more onto the actual sector bodies responsible to come up with a coherent plan for growth
_{^{Huan Japes, English UK}}

For Japes, the success and growth of the ELT sector not only lies in increasing the number of inbound English language students – with a current annual influx of 340,000 – but also in considering other ways to ensure the sector’s sustainability.

He would like to see more efforts to incentivise students to stay longer in the UK when they come for English study, for example.

“The average stay of an adult student is somewhere just south of five weeks. If we could persuade more students to stay just a week longer, that would make an enormous difference to people’s profitability and to the growth within the sector,” he told The PIE.

Japes also called for stronger collaboration between government and the ELT sector, warning that current signals from policymakers risk sending “mixed messages” to providers.

While welcoming the ambition to grow education exports, he argued that the sector would need more practical backing if it is to meet the UK’s £40bn target. He pointed to reduced trade activity overseas and wider changes within the Department for Business and Trade as examples of where support appeared to be shifting, even as expectations on the sector increase.

Japes said he would like to see ministers consider what additional measures – from export finance to in-market support – could help providers expand internationally. Growth targets could not be achieved through cuts alone, he suggested, adding that incentives and sustained partnership with industry would be key to delivering the strategy.

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