Study Group International

History

The company dates the origin of Study Group from the Embassy language school in Hastings, England, acquired by businessmen Andrew Colin and Duncan Greenland in 1989. A second language school was opened in Hove shortly after. Colin had previously acquired Bellerbys College, a sixth-form college for international students, and in 1994 the company British Study Group was formed incorporating the two businesses.

In 1996, 40% of the business was acquired by the Daily Mail Group, becoming Study Group International and expanding into the US and Australia. Later, in 1999, the Daily Mail Group became the 100% owner of Study Group, paying an estimated UK£44 million.

As well as expanding the UK and Australian operations, Study Group acquired the Center for English Studies (CES) chain of language schools in the USA and Canada, adding Boston, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver to their fold. Embassy became Embassy CES, and then Embassy English.

In 2006 Study Group was acquired by Australian private equity company Champ, having been sold by Daily Mail Group for A$176.4 million.

In 2007, the Brighton school and UK head office moved to purpose-built premises in the New England Quarter, next to Brighton station, costing an estimated UK£28 million.

On July 1, 2010, Providence Equity Partners took ownership of Study Group for $660 million Australian dollars.

International Study Centres

In the United Kingdom, Study Group has entered into agreements with a number of universities, whereby students are taught at an "International Study Centre" by Study Group staff on the university's premises. These "foundation" courses are designed to prepare students for a regular undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses. The company website lists such arrangements at the following 'host' universities: Heriot-Watt (Edinburgh), Keele, Kingston, Huddersfield, Lancaster, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool John Moores, Strathclyde (Glasgow), Surrey, and the Sussex. The group has also had centres at University of Wales, Newport and the University of Stirling which have closed.

Under these arrangements, the Study Group programmes are validated by the host university and are marketed alongside the host university's own degree courses. On each university's website, information about Study Group courses are contained on Study Group web pages with the identical appearance to the university's own web pages.

Brighton-based Study Group established one of the first of these arrangements at the nearby University of Sussex. These partnerships are attractive to UK universities as they provide a way of increasing numbers of overseas students, whose fee income is important. Equally, they attract criticism on the basis that students do not expect a British university course to be provided by a commercial company, that the course quality is not accredited within the university system, and that staff transferred to Study Group employment may lose the pay and pension benefits associated with university employment.

Study Group has made the same arrangements with a number of United States universities, which have received similar comments. The company website lists such arrangements at the following universities: JMU, LIU Post, Roosevelt, UMaine, Vermont, Widener.

Embassy English

Embassy English has 18 year-round schools in:

Approximately 36,000 students per year study with Embassy English.

Embassy English opened its first purpose-built school designed by Watkins Grey Associates LLP on a site in Greenwich/Deptford, London, sharing premises with sister company Bellerbys College. Residential accommodation was also built in partnership with the University of Greenwich

Embassy Summer

In addition to the 18 year-round schools, Embassy English operate summer schools at over 30 locations across the UK and North America as "Embassy Summer". The Embassy Summer school programme operates at the site of various university and college partners, in addition to several of the year-round Embassy centres.
A range of activities are offered under the Embassy Summer Plus and Embassy Summer Academy brands, with English language tuition being taught alongside a range of "summer courses" such as horse-riding.

Bellerbys College

Bellerbys College is the name of four sixth form colleges for international students in the UK aimed at preparing students for university education.

The colleges are located together with Study Group's Embassy schools in:

Taylors College

Established in 1920, Taylors College is a university preparation college providing University Foundation, Diploma and Australian High School programs (Year 10 - Year 12) in Australia and New Zealand.

The Diploma of Commerce program gives students opportunity to enter a range of Degree programs from the second year at the The University of Western Australia.

Taylors College has four campuses located in the major cities of Australia and New Zealand: Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Auckland.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) Study Centres (Australia)

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is an Australian multi-campus public university located in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory.

The CSU Study Centres are operated in conjunction with Study Group Australia, offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Accounting, Business and Information Technology. It has two campuses located in the city centres of Sydney and Melbourne, Australia.

Notable students

According to the Embassy English website, several "celebrities" have studied at various Embassy schools: