NEWS
WSET REPORTED RECORD NUMBER OF STUDENTS DESPITE PANDEMIC, ASIA-PAC GREW 4%
By Susan Lewis
24-9-2021
Source: WSET
Despite the on-going global pandemic, rhe London-based Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET) has reported a record-breaking 108,584 students in the 2020-21 academic year.
This represents a 12 percent increase on 2019-20 and exceeds the previous record of 108,529 candidates in the 2018-19 academic year.
Despite having to temporarily suspend business operations in Mainland China at the end of January 2021, the Asia Pacific region performed well growing 4 percent versus last year and representing 31 percent of WSET’s total business.
Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan, all top 10 WSET markets, showed good growth.
The USA remained WSET’s top market, registering over 20,000 candidates and showing 23 percent growth compared to 2019-20.
Europe, Middle East and Africa also showed strong growth with a 17 percent increase in students, representing 43 percent of global registrations.
France became a top three market for the first time with candidate registrations up 102 percent over the previous year to 11,800. In addition, 9 percent of all exams globally were taken in the French language.
WSET School London, WSET’s flagship school, also performed strongly over this period, chalking up a 42 percent growth in candidates compared to the previous year.
“I am humbled that, thanks to the dedication and support of our global network of course providers, more people than ever before in a single year have been able to take a WSET qualification, said WSET Chief Executive Ian Harris.
“I am also extremely proud that we have been able to support over 3000 students, primarily from the beleaguered hospitality industry across the world, to take a WSET qualification through charitable schemes in association with several of our corporate partners.”
“The ongoing impact of the global pandemic, combined with other external factors, has provided many challenges and highlighted areas of our business we need to focus on in the coming months to ensure we offer best in class customer service to our course providers and students worldwide,” added Harris.
(the writer can be contacted at: info@thewinechronicle.com)
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