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Bayswater Education today announces the acquisition of Eurocentres, a leading and historic language travel brand established in 1948.

Bayswater Education today announces the acquisition of Eurocentres, a leading and historic language travel brand established in 1948. The deal sees Bayswater take control of year-round centres in London, Cambridge, Brighton, Bournemouth and Paris. It also includes a rapidly growing online division, Exam Testing Centres and a global network of franchise and partners schools.

Stephan Roussounis, Managing Director of Bayswater Education, commented, “We are delighted to end this year with such exciting news. These have been the most challenging times for our industry. In March 2020,  we acquired a leading summer school business, Language Study Centres (now Bayswater Summer), and in a post-pandemic world we feel strongly that further integration and consolidation of the market is needed. We are delighted to combine forces with a world leader in English teaching, Eurocentres, and feel this will bring huge benefits to both of our networks of customers and partners”.

Stefan Menden, Group Chairman of Eurocentres, says, “combining the forces of Eurocentres and Bayswater is a logical and strategic move. We fully believe in the vision of offering a broader portfolio of courses beyond English that appeal to Gen Z, and our expertise and legacy of delivering quality English programmes will be a valuable part of the Bayswater portfolio. Eurocentres has invested heavily in a curriculum focused on 21^st Century skills, and Bayswater’s portfolio of courses will complement this greatly”. Menden will be joining the Bayswater board as part of the transaction.

The schools will be integrated into the Bayswater Education portfolio over the course of 2021. Bayswater intends to focus on the wholly-owned colleges with a centralised finance, admissions and sales team, and will be offering its portfolio of year-round courses (including Digital Marketing and Fashion) in in the following cities:

UK

• London
• Cambridge
• Bournemouth
• Brighton
• Liverpool

France

• Paris

Cyprus

• Limassol

South Africa

• Cape Town

Bayswater Education was established in 2017 as a fresh, forward thinking player in the international education sector, promising to bring change to a stagnant and contracting language travel industry. James Herbertson, co-founder of Bayswater, says, “we don’t see ourselves as a language school business, we are a global experiences business. We will use our network of centres to offer a broad portfolio of full-time courses, such as Digital Marketing and Fashion, in addition to English courses.”

The key to the student experience is giving students a taste of the local city while studying something that will be helpful for their career. An example would be Bayswater’s Professional Diploma in Digital Marketing, which combines a globally recognised certification in Digital Marketing, with visits to companies in London, guest lectures from industry experts and a group project with fellow classmates. “We see the future of our industry combining university-style short courses with language school service”.

It is innovating in the junior summer course market too. Bayswater’s refreshed summer school division, Bayswater Summer, will be offering teenagers from around the world 10+ exciting destinations in 2021, with a dedicated centre for specialist courses such as Digital Marketing, Fashion and E-gaming. 

About Bayswater Education (www.bayswater.ac)

Bayswater Education was founded in 2017, by Stephan Roussounis and James Herbertson, as one of the first social enterprises in International Education. Pulling together an experienced team from the sector, Bayswater Colleges in London and Liverpool offer adults a portfolio of Digital Marketing, Fashion and English. It also offers year-round group services and features a large junior division, Bayswater Summer (formerly Language Study Centres). For every student that Bayswater College teaches, they teach another from a disadvantaged background, on a one for one basis. The college is accredited by the British Council, a member of ALTO and English UK and is proud to be partnered with the Digital Marketing Institute.

About Eurocentres (www.eurocentres.com)

Founded in 1948, Eurocentres has been a leading name in international Language education for over 70 years. Formally involved with the development of the Common European Framework for Reference (CEFR), Eurocentres has been a language education consultant to the Council of Europe for 50 years. Operating a network of schools in the UK and France, and with partners around the world, Eurocentres delivers quality language programmes to thousands of students every year, in person and online. In 2018 Eurocentres was acquired by MVC Education and Career Group, led by Stefan Menden.

Andrew Barnsley, Managing Partner of Adam Street Advisers advised the vendors of Eurocentres on the transaction.