In September 2026, two well-known names in English-language teaching closed their doors within a five-day span. EC English closed 25 schools across seven countries and ILAC, Canada’s largest language school, ceased operations.^{1 2}

Behind each closure are international students who came to build their English and their futures, and staff who gave years to this work. National associations moved quickly to place affected students, and that response deserves recognition first.

For institutions that admit students through English preparation programs, the closures sharpen a question: what does falling participation say about the future of these pathways? The evidence points to pressure on access and provision, and to changes in how preparation is delivered. It does not show that academic English preparation has lost its purpose.

Key Insights at a Glance

Two Major Providers Closed in Quick Succession, Prompting Rapid Sector Support for Affected Students

EC English closed 25 schools across seven countries after unsuccessful efforts to secure investment, followed four days later by ILAC, which cited financial difficulties linked to regulatory changes.

Sector bodies responded rapidly: English UK offered replacement courses to about 370 EC students,³ while Languages Canada placed all 471 affected EC students in Canada within four days.⁴

For ILAC, Languages Canada activated its Education Completion Assurance Plan (eCAP), placing more than 430 of 1,362 in-person students by September 21 in comparable programs at no additional tuition cost. Accommodation and travel costs sit outside the plan.

Participation Is Contracting Within a Tighter Permit System

These closures come after several years of steady contraction. Languages Canada reports its members taught 81,600 students and 798,900 student weeks in 2025, halving the sector’s student-week volume since 2019.⁵ In May 2026, the association told the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance that Canada lost 32% of its accredited language programs, a decline from 225 in January 2024 to 152 by May 2026.

ApplyBoard analysis of IRCC data shows a similar decline. New study permits issued for language study, either alone or combined with a college or university program, decreased 72% between 2022 and 2025, from 15,914 to 4,518.⁷ Permits for language study alone declined 75%, and combined permits declined 68%. The combined category is a closer indicator of an intended route into college or university, although later enrolment requires separate evidence. In the first four months of 2026, language permits decreased a further 21% compared with the same period in 2025, to 1,312.

Students taking a language course of six months or less do not need a study permit, so these figures capture longer language programs and language study combined with a college or university program. They are best read as a signal of direction rather than a full count of language students. Languages Canada’s 2025 survey found that only 13% of its students entered Canada on study permits.

As a share of all new study permits, language study stayed small throughout, at 3.9% in 2022 and 3.7% in 2025, with a low of 2.7% in 2024. Language permits declined broadly in step with Canada’s overall permit decline of 70% over the same period, so the sharp decrease is in volume, not share. That places the decline within Canada’s wider permit contraction, though it does not show that interest in English, or the way students prepare, stayed the same.

Association data shows a more specific shift. Languages Canada’s 2024 annual survey reported that pathway program enrolments declined 56% and made up just 8% of total enrolments, while English student numbers declined 17% and French numbers grew 14%. The survey uses different categories from IRCC, but it points the same way.

The contraction also goes beyond headcount. Among Languages Canada members reporting in both 2024 and 2025, student numbers declined 13% while student weeks declined 19%. English UK centres reporting in both years recorded declines of 4.8% and 10.9%. Instruction volume is declining faster than enrolment, adding pressure on providers.

In the UK, Home Office data shows pre-sessional English grants held broadly flat between 2022 and 2025, from 4,750 to 4,708, setting the UK apart from Canada and Australia, though pressure has mounted recently, with grants declining 27% in 2025 compared with 2024, based on provisional figures.

Pre-sessional English is a small share of UK study grants, between 1.0% and 1.7% from 2022 to 2025, and it leans heavily on one corridor: China made up close to 80% of grants by 2025.

Declining Participation Does Not Settle the Question of Value

A June 2025 Academica Group study for Languages Canada examined public English for Academic Purposes (EAP) programs at six universities and three colleges, covering students from 2018 to 2023. At universities, 86.0% of EAP students were retained or had graduated by Year 2, compared with 82.7% of other students, and the positive link held after adjusting for other factors. At colleges, EAP students had lower raw rates, but the difference was not significant after adjustment.

The study cannot prove the cause or describe EC or ILAC students, but it shows why falling enrolment and educational value need to be assessed separately.

Preparation Models Were Already Changing

ILAC was part of that change. In April 2026, George Brown Polytechnic and ILAC announced a joint pathway program into selected diploma and degree programs. In February 2026, Sheridan joined an Ontario pilot of the Joint Pathway Program with another college and five language schools. These announcements show institutions were redesigning pathways rather than abandoning them, although they do not show enrolment outcomes.

Where students use English is changing too. Studyportals and the British Council counted 40,786 on-campus English-taught bachelor’s and master’s programs outside Australia, Canada, the UK, and the US in 2024, up 48% from 2021. These are program listings, not enrolments, but they suggest the pressure on traditional destinations is not a retreat from English. Students simply have more places to study in English.

Australia Offers an Earlier View of the Same Pressures

Australia offers the clearest view of how this pattern can unfold, because its pressure began earlier. The student visa fee rose from A$710 to A$1,600 in July 2024, then to A$2,000 in July 2025. Between 2022-23 and 2025-26, primary student visas granted in the independent ELICOS sector declined 73%, from 68,287 in 2022-23 to 18,188 in 2025-26, according to the Department of Home Affairs. The grant rate declined from 91% to 79%. The 2022-23 figure reflects a post-pandemic rebound.

Softening enrolments forced several closures, including Perth International College of English after 23 years. Affected students could access the Tuition Protection Service, an Australian Government program that provides alternative courses or refunds unspent tuition.

Although peak bodies requested a 50% fee reduction for English-language courses in September 2025, the government introduced a separate A$2,050 fee in July 2026, slightly above the previous A$2,000 but below the A$2,500 for other student visas. That outcome suggests coordinated advocacy can shape policy.

Australia also offers a model for checking whether pathways work. National ELICOS Standards require direct entry programs to show that their students achieve outcomes comparable to other admission routes. A 2026 English Australia Journal report found that 20 of 25 university English centres surveyed track these students into their first year of degree study, although centres working through partner agreements reported gaps in data sharing.

Where Students Come From Shapes Their Access to Pathways

Language schools draw heavily on a small number of source countries, so visa access in those countries matters. Approval outcomes vary sharply by country of citizenship, and for several countries the gap has widened since 2023.

In Canada, study permit approval rates across all levels between January and April 2026 were 98% for Japan, 97% for South Korea, and 90% for Brazil. Rates were lower, and have declined since the same months of 2023, for Colombia (72%, from 75%), China (63%, from 73%), Vietnam (51%, from 62%), and India (41%, from 63%), while Brazil rose from 82%.

These data points do not assess proficiency in the English language. They show that part of the pressure on language pathways comes from access rather than interest: students with similar goals face very different odds of getting a permit. For institutions, pathway demand can shift quickly when approval rates change in a key source country. ApplyBoard does not provide immigration advice, and these figures describe aggregate outcomes only.

Continuity and Coordination Are Strengthening the Sector’s Response

Institutions can review how conditional offers recognize language learning completed by displaced students, check whether pathway partners belong to a student-protection scheme, and assess how exposed they are to a single provider. Pathway agreements can also include access to attendance, assessment, and completion records, so institutions can follow students into their programs and track retention and grades, as many Australian university English centres already do.

For the sector, Australia’s experience shows the value of coordinated advocacy backed by shared data. Languages Canada has led that work in Canada, while sector voices have also raised the question of how prepaid accommodation could be protected, a gap that current tuition schemes were not designed to cover.

In September 2026, Ontario committed C$1.7 billion to fund 40,000 post-secondary seats for Ontario students in high-demand fields. Many international students reach these same fields through language pathways, so keeping those pathways stable supports the same goal.

These closures raise open questions for the sector. Are pathway models changing? Are students preparing for study abroad in new ways? The data so far points to English-language study contracting alongside the wider visa system rather than a move away from English. Supporting affected students today and strengthening the protections around them will help keep these pathways open.

About the ApplyInsights Team

FOOTNOTES:

1. EC English closes all global schools, September 2026, The PIE News. 

2. ILAC community message, September 18, 2026

3. EC English closes all schools, student support schemes activated, September 2026, StudyTravel Network.

4. Languages Canada statement on ILAC closure, updated September 23, 2026, 

5. Canada’s language training sector in “state of crisis” after further enrolment declines in 2025, August 12, 2026, ICEF Monitor.