What is the market size of English language training in China?

Dear Karenluo,

Thanks for your question. 
The article the allmighty-ga copied and pasted from the Chinese
newswire Xinhua (English Language Training Profitable Industry in
China) gives some useful figures.
But this kind of Chinese propaganda is always a bit tricky: it suggest
a certainty that is often not correct, like in this case. You have
English language training on many different levels. In the larger
cities it is part of the normal curriculum at schools. Learning is
very much a part of the Chinese culture and learning English certainly
has a priority here. You see a large variation of commercial programs,
voluntary exchange programs (I teach you Chinese, when you speak
English with me) and academic level study.
Only measuring the market in terms of turnover by a few commercial
institutes would not be correct, but giving a good assesment is rather
impossible.

Wall Street moved into Shanghai very recently and is occupying now two
floors at the highest skyscraper here in town (I'm living in
Shanghai), illustrating their commercial expectations.
Much depends on the reason why you ask the question. When you want to
become a teacher you might better join one of the better institutes
like English First.
When you want to join the frenzy by offering English yourself, you
will have not only limitless possibilities, you will also face much
competition.

Links:
The original Xinhua article (English Language Training Profitable
Industry in China; http://www.china.org.cn/english/SO-e/25691.htm)

Wall Street  (http://www.wallstreetinstitute.com/content.cfm?pg=about&BAPid=11#277)
 
English First in China
(http://teachers.net/jobs/jobboard/abroad/02.23.02.15.36.27.html)

Google search terms: English language training China

(Give me a shout when you want to come to China)

Cheers,

Fons

English language training is becoming a profitable industry in China,
as more Chinese become aware of the importance of the usefulness of an
international language, according to Tuesday's China Youth Daily.

Statistics show that last year, the industry in Beijing made a gross
profit of 700 million yuan(US$84.68 million) by providing English
language training courses to nearly 200,000 people.


The oral English course of Beijing New Oriental Language School
reported an income of over 90 million yuan(US$10.89 million) last
year, while the Eastern English Services and Wall Street English
schools all grew rapidly in the city at the same time.


Sources from the Eastern English Services say that it has set up four
schools in Beijing. Each has brought in 500,000 yuan(US$60483.6)
monthly, while the Wall Street English language schools charge
trainees more than 20,000 yuan(US$2419.35) each for one term.


Shanghai is another of the country's hot spots for English training.
The Wall Street Institute (WSI)invested 40 million yuan(US$4.84
million) to set up branches there and very quickly attracted more than
1,000 trainees, mostly from foreign companies.


The Beijing New Oriental School also began rapidly expanding. It
extended its business to Shanghai over one year ago, and so far over
10,000 people have been through the school.


Zhongshan city, a major city in south China's Guangdong province has
its sights set on parents' pockets. An international English training
school there offers training to children aged from three to 12 years
old. The cost of teaching materials for one person can reach up to a
staggering 7,800 yuan(US$943.55).


Experts say that the thriving English language training market should
be attributed to Chinese people's aspiration to speak English. With
China's entry to the World Trade Organization, more Chinese are
realizing that only with a good grasp of English, can it be possible
to survive in today's more open China.


The Beijing Evening News reported that the craze for learning English
even extends into temples. A nun from Lingquan Temple which is located
in south China's Liuzhou city, recently attended an English language
class.


The nun said that she often met foreigners visiting the temple and
wanted to say hello to them but her poor English always embarrassed
her.


"I hope I can speak fluent English someday so that I can freely
communicate with foreigners and even introduce Buddhism to them", she
was quoted as saying.

As a frequent visitor to China, I can report that many of the schools
puporting to teach English are less than good.  They hire people who
are not qualified to teach, and pay them poorly, while charging
students big bucks.  There are frequent articles in English language
Chinese papers pointing out the inadaqecies of the teachers.  My wife
and I met a "teacher" who was "teaching" to folks selling securities.
He had absolutely no teaching experience and could not speak a word of
Chinese.

What is the market size of English language training in China? 

Huge! Enormous!! Really big!!!
But then, you probably knew that. Fons-ga’s answer and the previous
comments give you some of the indicators to confirm this. A country
with 1.3 billion people is likely to have a huge market in almost
anything and it’s imperative to cut the question down to a manageable
size.

China’s December 11, 2001 accession to the World Trade Organization
and being awarded the 2008 Summer Olympics have given major impetus to
English language training. These developments call for teaching
English to students still in school and to people who are engaged in
trade and commerce with English-speaking individuals and
organizations., Articles such as “Beijing Launches English-Learning
Programs” ( http://www.china.org.cn/english/2001/Jul/16399.htm ) and
“Olympic Bidding Success Spurs English Language Fever in China” (
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200107/29/eng20010729_76042.html )
in the official People’s Daily give you the flavor of why English
language training will be a growth industry. The articles throw in
some random statistics to give you glimpses of possible market
segments. Another article from the China Internet Information Center
voices Chinese concerns about the rights of foreigners to provide
educational services under Article 13 of GATT Education Faces
Challenges Upon China's Entry Into WTO (
http://www.china.org.cn/english/2000/Sep/1513.htm )

The first challenge in answering your question is to clarify what you
mean by “English language training market”. The NetMBA site gives a
nice diagram to help you conceptualize (
http://www.netmba.com/marketing/market/definition/ ) the various
aspects of market definition. You can get help with doing this
Situational Analysis of the market (
http://www.acoa.ca/e/business/marketing_plan/index.shtml#analysis )
from these instructions for preparing a marketing plan.

You could consider the entire 1.3 billion Chinese population as your
target market. You could cut it down to some segment of the school age
population. The China Education and Research Network site (
http://www.edu.cn/HomePage/english/index.shtml ) is a portal to a huge
range of topics on Chinese education. If you’re able to read Chinese,
you will also find The Complete Reference to China's Education Related
Web Sites ( http://www.chinasite.com/Education/Education.html )
helpful as it links to many Chinese only resources. If you are more
interested in English language education for adults who have completed
school you will have to find ways to further segment this target
population. Whatever approach you take, here are some additional
resources to help with your explorations of the market, current
players and sources of information and help.

Government Links
http://www.usembassy-china.org.cn/econ/
The Economic Section of the U.S. Embassy has background information
for doing business in China.
http://www.usatrade.gov/website/MRD.nsf/MRDurl/ISA_CHINA_EDS_TRAINING-PROGRAMS_000A8E90
The U.S. Commercial Service Industry Sector Analysis: Training
Programs for China is comprehensive white paper on opportunities in
the training market.
http://www.tradepartners.gov.uk/education/china/profile/overview.shtml
This is a UK government Web site that provides market analysis for
various industry segments.
http://ce.cei.gov.cn/
China Economic Information Network

Organizational and Industry Links
http://www.sccci.org.sg/conference/CalvinTsang.pdf
Overview of China’s Education Market and Outlook by Clavin S. Tsang
http://cmei.8thnetwork.com/
The 8th Network Corporation – China Market Entry Intelligence
http://www.britishcouncil.org/promotion/getis/samples/getis.htm
Market intelligence
Global Education and Training Information Service (GETIS) provides
market research information
http://www.ventureabroad.org.sg/chinamarket.jsp
Singapore organization with specialized information for entering the
Chinese market

Just for Fun
http://search1.npr.org/opt/collections/torched/me/data_me/seg_142943.htm
China Rural Internet is an eight minute segment from Morning Edition
on initiatives by an entrepreneur who wants to teach English to rural
young people and take over call center and other businesses from
India.

So, karenluo-ga, have fun with exploring this very promising market.
czh