An education group Prodirekt to represent exclusively the NIKE tennis and language schools in the Balkan region
Belgrade, Serbia – March 14, 2014 – Following the recently acquired exclusive rights to represent the Manchester United soccer schools, a US based education company Prodirekt LLC, with its regional language network Verbalisti, is proud to announce the partnership with another of the world’s leading brands – Nike, and its representative CMT Learning.
The partnership entails exclusive rights for Prodirekt, covering Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia and Croatia, to represent the Nike tennis camps in the UK. Prodirekt teamed up with CMT Learning, the sports and education camp specialists, to offer residential tennis camps in July and August at Bisham Abbey and Bradfield College. READ MORE
Media and education group PRODIREKT, with its Verbalists Language Network, will be responsible for rolling out innovative online entertainment-based approach to English-language learners in seven markets.
Paris, France – June 6, 2012 – Entertainment Learning, the European leading education-via-entertainment company, announced its partnership with PRODIREKT LLC (www.prodirektgroup.com) today for the launch of its flagship language learning service, English Attack!, (www.english-attack.com) in Serbia, Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, and in Bulgaria.
English Language Teachers’ Association in Serbia features the network Verbalists in the IT for ET
In recent years social media has become a predominant factor in our daily communication, especially among young people, who ‘hang out’ on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter via their laptops or mobile devices almost around the clock. We update our status on (un)usual events in our lives, write on our friends’ walls or just tweet an interesting link from any imaginable sphere of life. Such is the power of social media that the rumor has it that if news/information is not on Tweeter, Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn, it literally did not happen.
So, why not use this trend of massification of online communication also as a means to attracting (young) people to learn languages in a funny, informal and laid-back way? READ MORE
The leading education organization in Europe ICEF features Prodirekt poll and analysis, relating to young language learners, in the Monitor.
Job opportunities have been shrinking with the global crisis and employers are becoming more selective; therefore, speaking English as a second language has become more important. The Verbalists survey points out that in developing economies the need for language education among young learners is perceived as a must, and that parents are willing to continue spending on their children’s education abroad even in harsh economic times. READ MORE
Using the Facebook page of Verbalisti, a vibrant social network focused on language learning managed by PRODIREKT, consumers were asked: ”How important is it for your children to learn a foreign language in the native speaking country?”_
Almost 80% of the 1,226 voters responded: “It’s extremely important and I will provide it for my child regardless of financial constraints in the family budget.”
Prodirekt managing director, Dejan Trpkovic, told The PIE News, “The results are important because they show the language travel potential in the region and they are an indication of the future behaviour of parents.” He added, “There will be more students studying foreign languages abroad as the economic situation in the region improves.”
Timothy Hughes, Entry Clearance Officer at the British Embassy in Moscow, delivered a presentation on behalf of the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to announce new visa changes at the recent ICEF Moscow Workshop, where hundreds of educators from approximately 30 countries around the world met quality student recruitment agents from Russia, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus.
The UK’s Point Based System (PBS) requires people to obtain 40 points to qualify for a Tier 4 student visa. Students need to present a valid Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies from a Tier 4 sponsor and must demonstrate that they have enough money to cover course fees and monthly living costs whilst studying.
Hughes shared some background on student visitor visas and outlined plans for the year ahead. He explains further in the video interview below.
As Hughes’ comments illustrate, various changes to the visa application process will be implemented from 6 April 2012. One key difference is that the UKBA can now assess visa applications up to six months before the travel date, giving more flexibility to agents and students.
Other notable changes that come into effect as of 6 April 2012:
There will now be time limits for degree studies in the UK, including a maximum time limit of five years for study at bachelors and masters level. (Note that there will be exceptions for those completing a PhD as well as certain longer programs of study.)
The maximum time for work placements will now be limited to one-third of the course time for studies outside of universities. The maximum work term for those studying at universities will remain half of the course time.
Institutions that do not currently meet the UK’s tough new criteria for Tier 4 visa sponsors, but have applied for and are awaiting inspection, are only able to sponsor a limited number of international students in the interim. This interim limit will be extended to cover the further transitional period to the end of 2012, by which time all providers will have been inspected.
Hughes forecasts a healthy demand for visas, particularly in the run-up to the Olympics, and highlights the strong desire from the Russian market to come to the UK to accelerate the language learning process. “There has been a huge demand and interest from Russians in learning the English language,” notes Hughes. Last year they received 177,000 visa applications from Russians to come to the UK, which marked the biggest Russian application volume ever seen.
The UKBA’s recent announcements occur against the backdrop of a highly critical, report from the UK’s National Audit Office (NAO) on the agency’s 2009 implementation of the Tier 4 points-based system for students from outside the European Economic Area. The NAO report was particularly critical of the UKBA’s enforcement of the new visa rules with regard to students who entered the UK on Tier 4 visas to work rather than study and also with respect to cases where students overstayed the term of their UK visas.
The British government is debating new efforts to curb immigration, with universities raising concerns about the effects on foreign students and scholars. Regarding the new report, the chief executive of Universities UK, which represents university vice chancellors, said in a statement that ‘visa abuse in relation to U.K. universities is very low compared to other parts of the education sector,’ adding that with strong global competition for international students, Britain needs to ‘ensure that legitimate concerns about immigration do not end up causing irreversible damage to a profoundly successful British export.’
Belgrade, Serbia – March 6, 2012 – PRODIREKT and its Verbalists Language Network today announced the results of the poll designed to discover how parents in the Balkans feel about the language education of their children. The visitors of the Verbalisti Facebook page were asked “How important is it for your children to learn a foreign language in the native speaking country?”. The survey was conducted in four countries – Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, during two time intervals – from 21st November to 21st December 2011, and from January 6 to February 6, 2012, and it generated enormous interest among the Verbalisti network fans and other Facebook members alike. The poll reached 247,757 people, while 1,566 participants cast their vote, with 1,226 of them saying that they would send their children to learn a foreign language in a native speaking country, regardless of the family budget constraints.READ MORE
