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Kiran Kaur, the Business Head for Acquisitions at Glinks International, says girls have great potential, and they must utilize it to shape up their careers by choosing the desired higher education path
How was 2021 for the education industry and for your company?
2021 witnessed innovation across sectors, education being one of them. Many businesses in the education space have evolved with the changing needs and introduced Innovative solutions and new services. In the education industry, there is much more than the university options, immigration protocols, visa services, and other services we deal with.
With the sole purpose of the well-being of students, we have included more value-added services for the students. Catering to the current demand, which is more than admissions and visas, a new set of services are implemented focusing on student services, career opportunities. Covid-19 was an eye-opener for us and taught us to not depend on just one country but provide a wide array of options to students to shape up their higher education path.
Educational institutions have realized the importance of online education, hybrid education. Also, acceptance for distance education has also increased.
What sort of opportunities did 2021 bring along?
For most of the businesses, 2021 came up with an opportunity to analyse the existing gaps, revamp the existing strategies, and create new market opportunities, robust processes. We build a whole new quality department to improve our services across the globe.
Did you face any challenges in 2021?
The rapidly changing procedures of travel were the biggest challenge for our industry. We had to stay abreast with the changing quarantine requirements, new travel advisories, university protocols in the wake of the new variant. The emergence of a new variant Omicron has slowed down speed for businesses moving towards normalcy. It seems there are a few more obstacles to cross before the situation gets better for various industries.
What were your key achievements in 2021?
With our strong network and more than a decade-long experience, we managed to perform well, and even during Covid, our numbers haven’t dropped. For many of our partners, we were the no. one performer during the Covid and are now in the recovery phase too. Students’ numbers have witnessed a consistent increase during Covid which was validated by multiple universities as they confirmed increment of applications and conversions.
Do you see opportunities in the regional markets with new markets opening?
Universities from Canada are very keen to build partnerships with UAE-based universities. A partnership forum is being organized by the Canadian embassy at the expo. The world is realizing the importance of the UAE being a highly developed country with modern architecture, rich heritage. It is imperative for the world to align with UAE and stay connected.
What will be your key focus areas for 2022?
Increasing the branding opportunities for our partner institutions, strengthening the relations with local schools, improve our service suites will remain our key focus areas for 2022. UAE is a diverse market with 10 different curriculums, and we must focus on engaging with the local schools and institutions.
Currently, we are working with students from 50 different nationalities, we aim to increase that number. Currently, we have a 29% share of female students, we hope to see an increase in this number. Girls have great potential, and they must utilize it to shape up their careers by choosing the desired higher education path. We will remain committed to empowering women and helping them with our robust service suite and expertise.
