Page 21 - ELG1903 Mar-Apr Issue 464

SPECIAL FEATURE
Day of English in Chester, it of England. Partly because the Powerhouse, Sir Jim O’Neill, of Manchester there was a
was, from the beginning, an cost of living is low, the people are would understand. In an population of 4 million people. If
alliance of all the sectors: private friendly and there are some very interview with New Statesman you took the region as a whole,
language schools, FE colleges good language centres. magazine last year, he explained that grew to 15 million.
and universities joined forces to However, the decision twenty how he came up with the idea “If you can create essentially
promote the region. years ago to pool the strengths of at a football match between a single market, you’ve got a
So successful was the initiative all the sectors involved to market Manchester United and game-changer, because you’ve
that English UK North, as it is the whole ELT resource across Liverpool, got something, along with
now known, became the model the entire region is the real secret O’Neill, most famous for London, that registers on the
for the regional associations used of its success. predicting the growth potential global stage.”
by English UK, which represent The economist behind in the BRIC countries, realised And this is exactly what
British Council accredited schools. the notion of the Northern that within a 40-mile region Northern ELT has done.
The growth in the size of the
northern industry in the last
twenty years is extraordinary. In
1999, there were two accredited TIM HILL/PIXABAY
school in Manchester – one in
Leeds and one in Liverpool,
which opened that year.
Now, Manchester has 16
schools, Leeds has six and there
are four in Liverpool. The chains
have arrived too, with Kaplan, EF
and EC all boasting Manchester
schools; Irish-owned CES with
centres in Leeds and Harrogate,
and new, northern-owned chain
NCG has centres not only in
Manchester and Liverpool but
now also in Dublin.
The powerhouse plan has
certainly worked for English
Language Teaching in the North The scenic and serene Yorkshire Dales.

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