Two giants closed in five days. Here is what accreditation actually buys you

It was the worst week the language school sector has had in years.

On 14 September 2026, EC English stopped trading and began insolvency proceedings at all of its 25 schools across seven countries, from London and Dublin to Toronto, Malta, Cape Town and Dubai. On 18 September, ILAC, the International Language Academy of Canada, announced that it "no longer has the financial resources necessary to continue operating", cancelled all classes with immediate effect and had KPMG appointed as trustee in bankruptcy. ILAC had campuses in Toronto and Vancouver, close to thirty years of history and, according to the trade press, more than a thousand international students enrolled.

Here is the part that matters for anyone about to book a course, and it is not comfortable: both schools were accredited. EC was a member school of English UK, of English Education Ireland, of the Maltese federation FELTOM and of Languages Canada. ILAC is an accredited member of Languages Canada.

So accreditation did not stop either of them from failing. Anyone who tells you that an accredited school cannot close is selling you something.

What accreditation does is different, and this week it was visible in numbers.

What the associations did in seventy-two hours

• Canada: Languages Canada activated eCAP, its Education Completion Assurance Plan. In its statement updated on 18 September, the association reported that "444 students affected by the EC English closures have been placed with alternate Languages Canada members", with the remaining files still being processed. Four days, more than four hundred students, another classroom each.
• United Kingdom: English UK activated its Student Emergency Support scheme for the roughly 370 students enrolled at EC's four British schools, so they could finish their courses at other accredited centres with no extra tuition to pay.
• Ireland: EC Dublin notified its Protection of Enrolled Learners insurer. English Education Ireland stated that all students enrolled there would be given the opportunity to complete their programme in Ireland at other accredited member schools, without paying tuition twice.
• Malta: thirteen member schools of FELTOM, including Alpha School of English, AM Language, BELS, Berlitz, Cavendish, Clubclass, ESE, IELS, inlingua, NSTS and Sprachcaffe, opened their doors to EC students with four weeks of free lessons.
• United States: EnglishUSA counted 202 enrolled students and asked member schools within commuting distance of each EC centre to report how many they could take.
• South Africa: six schools, among them Good Hope Studies, LAL, Bayswater, Avenue English, IH Cape Town and the language centre of the University of Cape Town, offered places.

That is the product an association actually sells. Not a promise that no member will ever fail, but a standing obligation on every other member to absorb the students of the one that did. Languages Canada puts it in one line: "eCAP is designed first and foremost to ensure that students can complete the education they have paid for should a Languages Canada member close unexpectedly."

What these schemes do not cover

Being honest about the limits is the only way the good news above is worth anything.

• Accommodation, flights and insurance are outside the schemes. Languages Canada says it plainly: "Accommodation, travel and other services fall outside the scope of eCAP and are not services over which Languages Canada has oversight or control." In Ireland the protection covers tuition, and EC Dublin honoured existing housing only until 19 September.
• What you get is a seat, not a transfer back to your bank account. Cash refunds are the exception, and where a fund exists it can be capped and paid in order of arrival until it runs out.
• There are deadlines. Under eCAP a student has to raise the claim within thirty business days of the closure. Miss it and the placement is no longer guaranteed.
• You do not choose the new school. The association places you in a comparable programme, which may not be the one you would have picked.
• Protection is uneven by country. In Ireland and Australia it is statutory, backed by insurance or by law. In Canada and the United Kingdom it is an association scheme. At EC's school in Dubai, no sector mechanism was identified at all.

Where ILAC stands right now

As of the writing of this article, one day after the bankruptcy filing, Languages Canada had published its EC statement and had not yet published a plan for ILAC students. ILAC is an accredited member, which is exactly what makes the same mechanism available to its language students, and the association has asked students and agencies affected by a closure to write to its dedicated student inbox.

If you are an ILAC student, or you have a friend who is, three things are worth doing today: write to Languages Canada, keep every document you have (enrolment confirmation, invoice, proof of payment, visa letter), and note the thirty-business-day window. Students enrolled at ILAC International College, which is a career college in Ontario rather than a language school, fall under a different provincial system and should watch for instructions from the Ontario authorities.

How to check a school before you pay

• Ask which association the school belongs to, and check the list on the association's own site rather than the logo on the school's homepage.
• Prefer destinations where the protection is written into law if the size of your investment worries you: Ireland, Australia and New Zealand protect tuition by statute, insurance or trust account.
• Pay tuition and accommodation separately when the school allows it. Tuition is the part the schemes protect.
• Keep the paperwork in one folder from day one. Every scheme asks for it before it places you.

Where we stand

Bid and Study only works with schools inside these systems. Every school we approve either holds an official accreditation in its own country or belongs to one of the 47 associations and accrediting bodies we recognise, and our team checks that before the school can see a single bid, let alone send you an offer. We keep a frozen copy of the offer you accepted and of the school's own cancellation policy, exactly as it was shown to you, because that is the document these schemes ask for first. And if a school of ours ever gets into difficulty, dealing with the association is our job, not yours.

None of that makes a school immortal. What it does is make sure that the week a school falls, there are dozens of others obliged to pick you up, and someone whose job is to make the call.

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