Industry Update I September 2026

A difficult moment for ELT, and what it reveals about the sector

There has been a lot written over the past few weeks about what has happened in the ELT sector, the recent closures and what may have caused them.

I was not sure I wanted to add another arti cle to that conversation.

But working for BONARD, an independent research company where we spend a lot of time looking at the sector through data, I felt there was a slightly different perspective worth sharing.

The numbers have been telling us for some time that ELT is going through a difficult period. But numbers only tell part of the story.

What has stayed with me most is the question of trust, what these events mean for students, parents, and agents, and what happened when that trust was tested.

Across study destinations, associations, schools, agents and many others stepped in.

Competitors worked together, and people facing uncertainty themselves continued helping students.

So rather than another analysis of what went wrong, I wanted to look at what this moment tells us about trust, resilience and what comes next for ELT.

Read the full review →

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