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Press Release
Leading white goods manufacturer Midea enters strategic partnership with EF Education First Shanghai上海, China, 14 February 2012 EF Education First today announced the launch of an English language training program with Midea, China’s largest white goods manufacturer. Midea is a rapidly-expanding company which has embraced globalization to become a world-class business. They launched an online English training program to assist their internationalization strategy and selected EF as their partner of choice for the undertaking. Founded in 1968 as a single workshop, Midea is now a leading consumer appliances manufacturer that employs over 180,000 people across the globe and takes in over $17 billion in annual revenue. With over 150 export regions around the world, Midea is one of the top 5 biggest manufacturers in the white goods industry. Midea’s global operations and constant expansion mean that they need a single language of communication to support their growing international business. In the past, Midea used a local face-toface English training provider but found that the administrative work involved in
finding qualified teachers prevented them a very positive reception. The students from achieving significant results. They have clear objectives and are motivated decided to switch to EF’s Online School to learn, some studying four times as because of the diversity of content and hard as required. “We are very happy with creativity of training methods found in the EF’s Online School so far,” said Yu Qi, the school. Midea also liked the fact that they Training Manager at Midea headquarters. could keep the teacher-led learning environ- “At first there was some resistance to the ment, while eliminating the administrative switch from face-to-face to online training, hassle of scheduling face-to-face lessons, but, in our location, it is not easy for us to thanks to EF’s virtual classrooms. find suitable teachers so an online school Initially, Midea is training employees who really is the best option. The fact that EF’s will potentially be sent on overseas assign- Online School includes unlimited access to ments and the program has been met with teacher-led conversation classes means we really do get the best of both worlds – an engaging learning environment in a convenient way.” For their part, EF is also pleased with the partnership. Johan Nordqvist, EF’s Regional Vice President, Asia, said “We are very happy to be chosen as language training provider for Midea. Their decision to switch from “We are very happy with traditional classroom training to EF’s Online EF’s Online School” School shows that they are embracing the Yu Qi, Training Manager, Midea most cutting-edge solution to position themselves as leaders in the international market.”
EF Corporate Language Learning Solutions EF Corporate Language Learning Solutions, an EF Education First company, is the world leader in corporate language training for multinational businesses and public sector organizations. Over 1,500 organizations and 15 million students worldwide have put their trust in us for a reason – we have proven time and again that our training solutions generate real results. With a worldwide network
of offices in over 50 countries, Executive Language Institutes in Cambridge, London and Boston, and the world’s most advanced online, on-demand language school, EF provides the highest returns on language training investments. For more information on EF Corporate Language Learning Solutions please visit: www.ef.com/corporate