EF International eyes India for more school admissions

EF International Academy, a global education provider having campuses in the United Kingdom and the US, is planning to increase its focus on India for more admissions.

The academy is an independent preparatory school, governed by Education First (EF) founded by entrepreneur, Mr BertilHult, which prepares students for placement in the top universities in the US or in the UK. EF is a large private educational company with group of 16 subsidiaries offering wide range of educational programmes.

The education provider has replicated its UK's Oxford and Torbay campus model in the US and so far has attracted students from across the world to its New York campus.

“For our New York campus at Tarrytown, we are targeting more Indian admissions by offering IB diploma and language courses. Currently, the school has strength of 450 students from Asian, European and Latin American countries,” said the EF International Academy Director, Mr Gary Julian to a group of journalists who were invited to visit the EF International Academy.

“Russia, China, Korea, Thailand, Indonesia is well represented from Asia but we are looking at more Indian participation to foster an extraordinary learning environment to enrich school life,” he added.

The New York campus started with 120 students five years ago now has 450 students of which about a dozen are from India. Currently the boarding school has cross culture and students from 51 countries studying here making it a truly a mixture of cultures, said Ms Cassandra Dragon, Intensive English Program Coordinator, University Admissions Advisor at EF New York campus.

She further said the New York campus is a private, co-educational high school that prepares students for university placement through continuous work schedule in all academic areas.”

For academic year 2011-12, academy selected about five Indian students after screening over a 100 applicants and receiving 600 enquiries and is expecting the numbers to go up from this year.

For Indian students it averages around Rs 18 lakh a year, which includes boarding, lodging and tution expenses.

Ms Shambavi Jayaramaiah, daughter of a Bangalore-based businessman, has taken admission for IB course to pursue science. She has moved to New York to study after her initial schooling in Bangalore.

While, Mr Sheel Patel hails from property developer's family from Baroda, Gujarat and is studying accountancy.

Dr Claudia Trew - IB Coordinator and Principal, EF New York campus, said “In the last four years, over 90 per cent of our graduates have attended their first choice universities and our students have consistently achieved high exam scores”.