Growth of international school groups has continued despite the pandemic, a new report from ISC Research says, the TES reports.
The number of schools now run by groups now stands at 4,861, up from 2,526 in 2017 and they have a combined fee income of $22.3 billion (£17bn) up by $13.7 billion (£10.5bn) in the last five years.
The report also found that the number of pupils taught by international school groups is now 2.18 million, up from 1.28 million five years previously.
The report reveals that the largest international school group is now a Canadian firm called Maple Bear Global Schools, which includes 361 schools and provides a Canadian education model for pre and elementary school.
The next four biggest providers are Beaconhouse Group (146 schools, predominately in Pakistan); Grupo SEB (140 schools in Brazil); The City School (133 schools in Pakistan); and Nord Anglia (86 schools across the world).
GEMS is the largest group in terms of students enrolled, educating 124,000.
Sam Fraser, research director at ISC Research, said: “It is anticipated that existing school groups will expand and more school groups will emerge within the international schools sector.
“There’s plenty of acquisition opportunity remaining for school groups because of the high number of individual schools still present within the sector.”
He said that parents had more faith in known brands when seeking to move between countries.
