North East educators secure first Chinese contract

A North East language school that aims to tap into the burgeoning Chinese market has signed its first contract in the country.

North East International Education Development (NE-IED) intend to capitalise on China’s growing wealth and appetite for travel by providing education tours, where youngsters visit the region to study.

Director Tom Magen has been helped by UKTI to establish the business’ overseas links and earlier this month NE-IED brought its first cohort of Chinese students to the region for study.

Mr Magen said: “Many families in China are now becoming more affluent, their income is increasing and just like us, they’re keen to travel and to see what other countries are like. The UK is a popular destination, but most tours take in the two capitals of London and Edinburgh and that’s it.

“The North East has a lot to offer Chinese tourists and we want to tap into this growing market and bring tours here to sample the likes of Durham, Newcastle, Northumberland and other places such as York. And, of course, while they’re here they’ll be spending money here helping the local economy.

“We promoted the tour in China by teaming up with a local radio station – 987FM – and one of their journalists joined the group too, so will also be helping promote the region to others in China. It was really well received and we intend to use the success of this tour to promote Newcastle and the North East further in China.”

Lissa Balmer, one of UK Trade & Investment’s International Trade Advisers who has worked closely with the company alongside Dr Zhengming Yang, UKTI’s China Business Development Manager, said: “Tom has benefited from the support offered by our Passport to Export programme and has made good use of our Overseas Market Introduction Service (OMIS) reports, which have helped him identify and develop contracts in several Asian markets.

“He’s also followed that up with visits to the markets including China and has become a member of the China Networking Club.

“A coordinated approach, with the help of Yang and the China team, has helped the company to maximise its opportunities and it is now looking forward to continuing growth.

“The first tour was a resounding success and we’re sure this will be the first of many for Tom and NE-IED. We look forward to working with him further in the future. And we hope his success will inspire others to take up the export for growth challenge.”

For more information from UKTI in the North East email: enquiries@uktinortheast.org.uk, or follow: twitter.com/UKTINorthEast.