A better world through education

Working with over 50 universities around the world, Study Group’s reputation and expertise in international education ensure success for our partners and students. From outstanding teaching to innovative approaches to international recruitment and student support, our global organisation is united in working with universities to build a better world through education.

Global education experts

Through our university partnerships and innovative face-to-face, online, and hybrid study programmes, Study Group guides thousands of international students each year towards academic and professional success – creating opportunities for the next generation of industry experts. Our courses range from pathways to undergraduate and postgraduate study delivered in partnership with universities across the world, to the specialist online delivery of medical and executive education with global leaders, such as Imperial College London and ETH Zurich.

Digital innovators

Study Group is always looking to the future, working with our partners to provide education solutions. To continue this innovation we have integrated our digital learning platform, Insendi, into our course creation, delivery and assessment. With this cutting-edge education technology, we are able to build upon our years of academic experience whist adapting to the online world. Our in-depth digital education expertise and Insendi platform helps us to deliver transformative, intuitive and accessible online and blended learning experiences with the most powerful digital tools available.

Our university partners

We currently partner with over 50 universities across the world, both digitally and face-to-face, as we develop international education opportunities for students and universities.

About Study Group

Study Group is a leading provider of international education. After working with universities across the UK and Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand, we are now growing our expertise with the integration of our innovative digital learning platform, Insendi.

We offer over 500 teaching programmes to nurture ambitious students from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds. Our study opportunities help to prepare students for success at their chosen university and in the world of work through face-to-face, online and hybrid opportunities.

With a global outlook and offices all over the world, we use our expertise, knowledge and commitment to keep creating more opportunities in international education. The universities we work with trust us to increase their global footprint, access student diversity and provide assured progression to higher education – so they can continue to focus on academic excellence.

50+
university partners
85%
progression to UK Russell Group universities
500+
teaching programmes
35%
of our partners are in the world’s top 20 universities

Our global reach

We are experts in international education because we ourselves are international. The Study Group network spans offices across the globe, as well as partnerships with universities all over the world. We also partner with over 3000 agents worldwide – increasing our global reach even further.

Your partner in success

Our face-to-face and digital partnerships are building a better world through education. We operate more than 30 International Study Centres and Colleges at universities around the world to provide pathway programmes to higher education. We also provide executive, medical and higher education digital courses with top-ranked institutions such as the University of Oxford, John Hopkins University, ETH Zürich and Imperial College London – taking the total number of universities we partner with to over 50 globally.

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Global leadership

Study Group’s success is championed by the expertise and dedication of our team. Our global leaders are experts in international education and student support – and are academic leaders in digital and online learning, as well as global student recruitment and admissions across international education markets.

Emma Lancaster

Chief Executive Officer

Emma Lancaster was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Study Group on 1 September 2018, having served as Chief Financial Officer since April 2013.

Emma was CFO of SHL group Ltd for 11 years, during which time it was both a public company and private equity backed. Prior to SHL, she was Director of Finance and Business Development at The Rank Group plc. Emma’s early career was at Arthur Andersen in a variety of both client-facing and internal roles in the Global Corporate Finance group.

Emma has a BA (Hons) in Zoology from Oxford University (Keble College), UK.

Nikki Hall

Chief People & Transformation Officer, and Interim Chief Product Officer

At Study Group, Nikki Hall has served as Chief People & Transformation Officer since November 2019, having served as Chief Human Resources Officer from May 2018. Nikki currently holds a dual role as Interim Chief Product Officer.

Nikki has been in HR for over 25 years, including serving as Chief Human Resources Officer at HotSchedules, Twenty Eighty and SHL/Previsor.

As part of her experience, in prior organisations, she has been responsible for managing large transformation programmes, including running her own boutique merger and acquisition integration consulting company, Xceleration Partners.

Nikki has held other senior executive roles including serving as Chief Product & Content Development Officer at Previsor.

She holds a BBA in Business Administration with an emphasis in HR/Industrial Relations from the University of Iowa.

Nick Williams

Chief Financial Officer

Nick joined Study Group on 1 October 2018 as Chief Financial Officer and was appointed to the Board on the same day.

Nick began his finance career at KPMG, and prior to joining Study Group, he was finance leader for a number of growing, international businesses. Immediately before Study Group, he was CFO of JacTravel, the global B2B travel provider. Previous businesses included Masternaut, Truflo International and Biocompatibles. Nick also serves as Non-Executive Director of Cambridge Scientific Innovations.

He has a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Exeter, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Alison Alfers

Chief Legal and Compliance Officer

Alison Alfers joined Study Group in February 2021 as Chief Legal and Compliance Officer. Alison’s background includes serving as General Counsel in a range of publicly traded and privately held companies, including DigitalGlobe Inc. (now MAXAR)- a NYSE-listed satellite technology company, Knowledge Learning Corporation, and most recently Cherwell Software. Key areas of expertise include global transactions, corporate governance, regulatory compliance, intellectual property and governmental affairs.

Alison is passionate about education and followed up her Juris Doctor degree with a Master of Public Health in 2015. Alison has also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Denver College of Law, and the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

Alex Chevrolle

Director of External Relations, ANZ

Alex is responsible for External Relations in Australia and New Zealand. He joined Study Group in 2014 and is based in our Sydney offices.
 
Alex has extensive experience in international and higher education, university pathways, and English language training.
 
Over the past two decades, Alex has developed and managed education programs and agent networks in Australasia, Europe, Africa, and Asia, including during his six years living in China. Previous roles include Global Sales Director then Managing Director of Study Group ANZ, Managing Director of Kaplan Business School Australia, Vice President Sales and Marketing in Asia for Kaplan International Colleges, and General Manager of Kaplan International Colleges in China.
 
Alex speaks French, Mandarin, and Portuguese. He holds a Licentiate Diploma in TESOL from Trinity College London and a Master of Arts in Teaching English for International Business from the University of Central Lancashire.

James Pitman

Managing Director, Chief Development Officer, UK & Europe

James Pitman is Study Group's Managing Director and Chief Development Officer for UK and Europe. James is also the Chair of Exporting Education UK and Vice-Chair of Independent Higher Education.

Prior to joining Study Group in February 2007, James was Managing Director of the EMEA businesses of Rosetta Stone, a market leading, global e-learning software provider.

During the 1990s, James held a variety of senior international roles, including those of Vice President of International Marketing and Vice President of Operations and Business Development with Warner Music International and EMI Music. This followed eight years in international education publishing.

James has a BA(Hons) and MA from Cambridge University in Natural Sciences and a MBA from IMD in Switzerland.

Anthony Claridge

Chief Information Officer

Anthony has worked globally across many industries, with business leadership positions in the medical sector, with ResMed, where he was in charge of global supply operations and more recently the Chief Operating Officer of ResMed’s German Healthcare Business and the scientific sector with Leica, where he was responsible for global processes.

Anthony has held various technology roles, including CIO within the life science, industrial and software sectors, with companies including United Technologies and Xerox, where he worked closely with business leaders to streamline processes and systems architecture to speed up internal processes and make life easier for their customers. Anthony has worked in the USA, Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Australia.

Mark Cunnington

Chief Learning Experience Officer

Dr Mark Cunnington is Chief Learning Experience Officer for Study Group. He has global responsibility for teaching, learning and student success. Whether at International Study Centres, Colleges or online programmes, Mark leads a team focussed on engaging and preparing thousands of international students for undergraduate and post-graduate university study.

With 25 years of commercial and strategic experience across media and education, Mark’s professional expertise is broad and varied. After a successful career as one of the Financial Times’ commercial directors, Mark has worked in the field of education for over 11 years. Prior to joining Study Group in 2017, Mark ran Pearson South Africa’s higher education business, which included the running of their higher education institution. As Chief Executive Officer he oversaw an institution with 12 campuses, over 9000 students and more than 1000 staff.

Mark has a Master’s degree from the Royal Holloway University London and holds a Doctorate from the University of Liverpool in international Higher Education.

Mike Everett

Chief Student Experience Officer

Mike Everett is Chief Student Experience Director, responsible for student experience across the whole of the student journey. Mike joined Study Group in February 2015 as Chief Operating Officer, UK and Europe. After this, he became Global Delivery Director and then Chief Growth Enablement Officer.

Prior to joining Study Group, he worked in research and consultancy in a variety of senior roles. These roles included Global COO at YSC (a business psychology consultancy); Global Head of People and Talent (HR Director) for Ipsos; CEO and COO of Ipsos MORI in the UK; and Global Head of Customer and Employee research for TNS.

Mike has a degree in Industrial Economics from Warwick University. He started his career as a Management Consultant with Ernst & Young followed by working as an employment researcher at the Institute for Employment Studies.

Steve Hill

Chief Partnership Officer

Steve joined Study Group in 2021 and was appointed Chief Partnership Officer in January 2022.

Steve spent the first part of his career in International Finance before joining The Open University as CEO, OU Worldwide in 2011. Steve was also the Chairman of FutureLearn, the UK’s leading MOOC platform.

Prior to his current role, Steve was the founding CEO of Higher Ed Partners, a leading Online Programme Manager (OPM) partnering with universities convert F2F programmes to an engaging online format.

Steve is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute.

Terry Sweeney

Chief Executive Officer of Insendi, a Study Group company

Terry is the CEO of Insendi who support our partner universities globally to develop and deliver high quality online degree programmes through Insendi’s unique learning experience platform.

Terry has spent the last 25 years in leadership roles supporting the education technology sector, the last 14 years of which at Board level. Prior to his current role Terry was CEO of Epigeum, a leading publisher of online programmes designed to support Universities in their core business of teaching, research, and studying. Preceding this Terry was CEO of Academic Partnerships International responsible for successfully delivering on-line course migration, student recruitment and retention services for partner universities within the UK and Europe. Prior to joining Academic Partnerships Terry was CEO of RM Education Plc. RM Education is the leading technology partner to UK education.

Terry is a Fellow of the Institute of Directors has a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from City University London, an MBA from Oxford Brookes University and is alumni of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Programme.

Sector recognition

Study Group was recently named Global Education Investor’s Pathway Company of the Year. The organisation was also shortlisted for The PIE’s Progressive Education Delivery award and our digital education platform Insendi was shortlisted by Global Education Investor in its top Ed Tech Provider award category.

Senior members of the Study Group team also act as advisers within the international and higher education sector – including on the UK International Education Strategy, as members of the British Council Higher Education Advisory Group, the UK student Futures Commission, the Council for International Students Affairs, and the National Indian Students and Alumni Union.

Building Futures

Study Group’s corporate fundraising initiative, Building Futures, has been supporting education projects in developing countries since 2004.

Building Futures is committed to long-term, sustainable education projects in developing regions. Supporting some of the world’s poorest children, our projects construct schools and improve access to quality education in these communities.

Our projects

Our current project aims to improve the quality of and access to education for girls in rural Ghana. A major focus of the project is tackling the negative attitude towards girls’ education – as well as girls who are at risk of dropping out of school.

Annual flooding in Bangladesh causes schools to close for months at a time, interrupting the education of thousands of children. This project improved infrastructure, safety and access to learning at eight schools.

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Building Futures' tenth project focused on rebuilding schools and restoring education for girls and boys in Nepal, following the major earthquakes of 2015. Study Group raised the £220,000 needed to construct and fit out the new school in Sindhupalchowk District, Nepal.

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Civil war damaged Sri Lanka’s infrastructure and the Anuradhapura district desperately needed a new primary school to improve the education opportunities for 400 children.

Our project involved the construction of a new primary school in Anuradhapura in northern Sri Lanka. This directly helped over 400 children access a quality education.

Read more »

Our response to COVID-19

Our goal throughout COVID-19 has been to make sure that our students’ education isn’t affected by the pandemic. Our courses continue to be delivered through a mix of face-to-face, blended and online teaching and learning.

Our top priority is always the safety and health of our students, staff, and the communities in which we work. Our approach to learning continues to be dependent on country-specific COVID-19 restrictions, decided together with our university partners and in line with government and health guidance.

Read our response to COVID-19