Mexico feedback

Student nationality
As in our previous Feedback survey of Mexico (see Language Travel Magazine, February 2003, page 14), a majority of students were from the USA. However, Canadians were noticeably absent this year, resulting in North America';s share slipping from 60 per cent in 2003 to 50 per cent. Western Europeans increased their share of the market, from 21 per cent in our previous survey to 42 per cent this year. After Germans, Swiss were the most numerous nationality from Western Europe and the most likely to book with an agency.

Student enrolment
Although the proportion of students who booked their course through an agency, at only 26 per cent, was still relatively low this year, it has increased considerably from the 11 per cent recorded in our last survey. Another interesting development is that, whereas in 2003 more students indicated that they had used an agent for information but then booked directly via the school, this year a higher proportion of students had booked through an agency than had originally found their school through this channel. Despite the rise in agency bookings, however, the Internet was far more important in recruitment terms, accounting for 52 per cent of student bookings. When asked for more specific reasons for why they had chosen their school, apart from school location, one student mentioned their institution';s nice website, another said they wanted certification from a university, and a further response was: "they were the quickest to answer".

Standard of the schools
Looking at individual aspects of programmes, 95 per cent of students felt their academic programme to be excellent or good and 94 per cent thought the same of their teachers, while 80 per cent so rated their accommodation, which is higher than in other countries. For example, in Spain, only 63 per cent voted in the top two categories for accommodation. Sixty-three per cent of students were staying with host families. Class sizes were generally very small with an average of five students per class.

Living in Mexico
For most of the students in Mexico (68 per cent), the cost of living was considered to be cheaper than at home while 26 per cent of students thought it was about the same. When asked to put aspects of their experience in order of preference, after the language, the people and the culture were voted second and third. Accordingly, a relatively high 64 per cent of students said they found it quite easy to practise their Spanish with the local Mexican people.