South Africa

Student motivation
The average age of students, at just under 29 years, was relatively high compared with other language travel destinations, such as the UK where the average is 24 (see Language Travel Magazine, April 2006, pages 16-17). This, coupled with the fact that over 60 per cent of respondents were in employment, resulted unsurprisingly in current or future work being the main reason for taking an English course in South Africa. With such serious goals, it also meant that the average hours of English studied per week – 24.3 hours – was relatively high. Among those with more academic motivations for learning English, 12 per cent were going on to study in South Africa (up on nine per cent in 2003), while a further nine per cent were hoping to study in another English-speaking country.

Student enrolment
The average length of stay increased this year, up from 9.3 weeks in 2003 to 10.3 weeks, which may be owing to South Africa’s increasing appeal as a serious language travel destination rather than a vacation location. Agents remain important to the South African market with 42 per cent of students saying they had found out about their school through an agent. However, although 49 per cent of respondents indicated that they had booked through an agency, this was down from 55 per cent in our previous survey.

Standard of the schools
The quality of the language schools that took part in our survey was exceptionally high, evidenced by the fact that 99 per cent of students said they would recommend their school to other students (the other one per cent did not reply). Looking at individual aspects of the study experience, the teachers scored highly, with 90 per cent of students saying they were good or excellent. Accommodation was also rated highly, with 80 per cent of students saying it was at least satisfactory. Indeed, host family accommodation, which accounted for the living arrangements of just over half of the students, received outstanding commendations, with 75 per cent of those staying with host families saying the standard of accommodation was good or excellent.

Living in South Africa
South Africa represents good value for money in comparison with many other English language destinations, so it comes as no surprise that 47 per cent of students found the cost of living to be lower in South Africa than in their home countries, 76 per cent of whom were Western Europeans and a further 14 per cent from Asia. The average cost for a course plus accommodation was US$311 per week.