(Yicai Global) Aug. 16 -- EF Education First, one of the world’s leading English language educators, is preparing to offer large discounts on its online and in-class courses in China to entice students who have been affected by the impending insolvency of the China arm of its competitor Wall Street English.

More details will be released on Aug. 18, the Lucerne, Switzerland-based firm said on its website last week.

The purpose of the announcement is to snare students from its rival, analysts told Yicai Global.

No specific details or plans for Wall Street English membership courses have been received, EF’s customer service told Yicai Global. They will customize their courses according to the individual needs of students, it added.

Last month’s new clampdown by regulators on extracurricular classes in a bid to reduce the burden on the country’s school kids proved to the final nail in the coffin for Wall Street English, already reeling from the sharp drop in attendance during the Covid-19 pandemic and a CNY36.5 million (USD5.6 million) fine for false advertising and fraud. The company is preparing to declare its China division bankrupt this week.

While the disappearance of a competitor might be good news for EF, the craze for learning English among adults is over, said Chen Yonglan, managing director of French investment firm Eurazeo’s China branch. Ten years ago, China’s white-collar workers flocked to schools to improve their English, leading to a boom in the English language training sector, but this trend has faded.

The adult English language training market is expected to shrink 37.6 percent in 2020 from the year before to CNY59.5 billion (USD9.2 billion), according to iResearch.

Adult training is also going to become a target of China’s online educators which are searching for another source of income now that their main revenue stream, extra-curricular classes for students, has been blocked.

Editor: Kim Taylor