The developing global nature of education is reinforced by the Australian acquisition of one of Edinburgh’s language schools as the base for its worldwide operations.
Melbourne University will take over the running of the 32-year-old Edinburgh School of English, which caters for 2,000 students a year. The university’s Hawthorn English Language Centres have bases in New Zealand and Vietnam, and schools are planned for Vancouver and Dublin as well as Edinburgh, which will become the administrative centre.
Martin Huggins, who founded the Edinburgh School of Eglish, and his wife Margot will remain directors. Hawthorn’s general manager, Robert Travers, arrived in Scotland recently to become principal as well as taking charge of the schools worldwide.
Mr Huggins said: “No changes in the existing suite of English language programmes are anticipated.
“In time we will add university-accredited English for academic purposes programmes and related courses to offer long-term students, and through this we would expect to become a significant feeder of well-prepared tertiary students to Scottish universities.”
