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Alyerd Campbell Brown

In late 2001, a mother and son were strolling along Manly Beach in Australia talking about the English language school industry, and whether or not there was a place for another provider in an already crowded marketplace.

At the center of their discussion was the question: what was needed to build a really good school?

This was a newish industry in New Zealand and at this point a significant number of language schools were being opened by business people hoping to make a big profit on the back of the rapid increase in Chinese students coming to NZ.

Julie and Tim Brown believed there should be more focus on teaching quality and student care, as well as better financial controls.

Back in New Zealand, Warwick Isaacs had also been looking at starting a language school. Warwick was a family friend of the Browns: he had taught alongside Julie’s father, Alyerd Campbell Brown, and used to go tramping in the New Zealand mountains with him.

Teachers become business people

Tim and Julie rang Warwick and the three discussed opening a language school together. They believed their combined local and international experience of college, university and polytechnic teaching, interest in linguistics and love of languages would provide a good foundation to build a high quality school.

In 2001 Dr Bruce Cochrane, a Senior Lecturer at Canterbury University, had passed away leaving a bequest for Tim which provided the financial wherewithal to fund the start up.

And so, in mid-2002, The Campbell Institute – named after their shared link: Al Campbell Brown – opened on level 2, Dixon Street.

Much paperwork had been completed to meet regulations, walls had been built within the bare building, and furniture, fittings and resources purchased.

First student

The Campbell Institute’s first student was Japanese. Kana had walked off the street after seeing the sign offering English lessons. He had a full head of dreadlocks and was a keen learner.

He was also very impressed at the teacher-to-student ratio: as the only student, Kana had three teachers all to himself for the first week!

SARS and its lesson

Student numbers grew steadily. But in 2003, barely 18 months after Campbell’s opening, the New Zealand international education industry was hit by several shocks, the first of which was the health epidemic SARS.

Numbers fell drastically at all schools as students fled home or cancelled their bookings. Bad news stories spread through the media both at home and overseas.

Several large language schools closed suddenly, causing further loss of confidence in the industry. In particular, the Chinese government singled out New Zealand as an undesirable study destination. At the same time, competing countries such as Australia opened up their doors and demonstrated a much more aggressive and commercial approach to international education.

SARS and these other factors provided a lesson for everyone in the industry: so much focus had been placed on attracting students from China; in future language schools needed to make sure they sought to enrol students from a wider range of countries.

Ultimately this had a positive spin-off as the wider catchment of students from further around the world has created a more ‘global English’ learning environment in many of New Zealand’s language schools.

Hard times

SARS was not the only challenge The Campbell Institute faced over the past decade.

In 2005, when student numbers had fallen to their lowest ebb, and things were really tough, the Directors considered closing the school and were actively searching for, or engaged in, other employment.

By that stage the school had grown to occupy levels 1 and 2 in Dixon Street, but the Directors had to give up the lease on Level 2. (Later it was able to expand again, retaining Level 1 and moving the reception and several classrooms to the Ground floor.)

All schools were going through challenging economic times. One large school that had previously sold for $1.7M was eventually passed into Campbell’s care just over a year later for a token sum to ensure students could continue their studies when it collapsed.

The Campbell Institute held on just long enough to see the industry begin its shaky recovery.

In 2006, The Campbell Institute took over Wellington’s largest and oldest language school, Capital Language Academy. Over the previous 18 months, CLA had in turn merged with or taken over several other schools, including Regent English School, Total English, and Wellington College of Languages.

The Campbell Institute then proceeded to consolidate its position in the local industry and grow its way back to what has become the strongest position in Wellington, and among the most highly respected English language schools in New Zealand.

To date, the high New Zealand dollar, global recession and red tape relating to visas for some nationalities of students have kept up the economic pressure. Export education remains a volatile industry.

China and Chile

Between 2003 and 2007 The Campbell Institute was involved in delivering programmes in both Chile and China.

In 2003, Julie went to Chile to establish and teach on a 7-week summer programme at Universidad del Desarrollo in Concepcion. She later returned, along with another staff member, to set up a six month course for a private institution.

In October 2005, Julie spearheaded the start of our Foundation Studies programme within Wuhan University in China. She also spent four weeks establishing a programme at a high school in DongYing in Shandong province which ran for 18 months. These students fed into Victoria University of Wellington’s Foundation Studies programme.

Auckland campus opens

In 2008, The Campbell Institute opened its Auckland campus, alongside Macleans College at Bucklands Beach. The Auckland campus is still going strong and recently relocated to a more convenient site at Highland Park.

Prestigious qualification awarded

In 2011, in recognition of our quality controls, The Campbell Institute was accepted by the University of Cambridge, England, to become a teacher training centre for its prestigious CELTA teaching qualification. The only school accredited to offer this in Wellington; we now run these courses twice a year and have a 100% pass rate for students completing the course.

Scholarships

In 2004, The Campbell Institute was approached by Pam Henson of The Shimshal Trust. Pam wanted to bring a Pakistani student from Shimshal village to New Zealand to learn English so that the student could then return to her village and teach others. We were able to part-fund Hussn Bibi’s lessons for 11 months. She was a delightful student and we are still in contact with Hussn, Pam and the wonderful Shimshal Trust.

In 2012, Ultimate (Ion) Tiamsaad studied with us on a four-week scholarship that he’d won by submitting a funky You Tube clip that told why he wanted to study English with us. Other scholarships are in the pipeline.

Welcome Demi Au Pairs!

In 2009, The Campbell Institute started what has grown to become New Zealand’s largest Demi Au Pair programme. The programme matches part-time Au Pairs with local families. Demi Au Pairs live with their families, study English in the morning, and work as Au Pairs in the afternoon.

This innovative programme has attracted many high-level German students and runs from both the Wellington and Auckland campuses.

Rugby and English? Barista and English? English for Professionals? Click here to learn more about our other innovative programmes.

Charity and community involvement

Every year, students and staff take part in activities to help local people. At Christmas, most years, we hold an auction to raise money for charitable organisations.

In 2011, however, the focus was on helping the people in Christchurch following February’s terrible earthquake. Students and staff collected donated goods and took part in activities to raise funds to send to Christchurch. A Japan Day was also held to help the people of Japan who suffered their huge earthquake and tsunami soon after the Christchurch disaster.

World Cup Rugby Success

The Campbell Institute joined in the rugby fun when New Zealand hosted the Rugby World Cup in 2011. Not only did some of our students go to matches and meet All Black players, The Campbell Institute won a mini World Cup for having one of the best Rugby decorations of any workplace in Wellington!

Where to now?

The Campbell Institute has grown steadily and organically, relying on its strong reputation for quality teaching, high success rates, and happy students. It has never turned to widespread discounting as a business strategy, even during tough times. Its focus has always been on maintaining quality and meeting student needs. The Campbell Institute now has an extensive network of agents around the world. Its students comprise dozens of nationalities, including European, Middle Eastern, South American, as well as from traditional Asian markets.

As well as receiving international students, embassies and businesses within Wellington also send staff to The Campbell Institute for English for Professionals tuition.

As the preferred partner to Victoria University of Wellington, The Campbell Institute has a relationship which contributes to its reputation for academic English and study pathways. Once students have studied at The Campbell Institute they are forever part of our global Campbell Family.

More about the owners

Tim Tim is a graduate in Linguistics, French and Chinese from the University of Canterbury, and in 2001 graduated with a first class Honours Degree in Linguistics from Victoria University of Wellington. Tim's academic strengths include languages, Sociolinguistics, and Second Language Acquisition Theory. Tim has lived, studied and taught in many countries, including France, Costa Rica, USA, Tahiti, China and Taiwan. Tim is a long-standing Board member of Education Wellington. He speaks fluent Mandarin and French.

Warwick B.A., B.Sc., Dip.Teaching, and CTEFLA. Warwick has taught in primary schools in London, secondary schools in New Zealand, and state-funded and private tertiary institutions in France and New Zealand. In 1984, he developed the gifted student unit at Hagley Community College, Christchurch. In 2007, as co-owner and director of Wellington’s Quest on the Terrace Hotel, he won the New Zealand Quest Franchisee of the Year Award. Warwick is on the WATESOL committee, the Wellington branch of the national association of teachers and tutors of ESOL.

Julie B.A., Dip. Teaching, Advanced Dip. Teaching, Postgraduate Dip. Teaching ESOL, and Master's Degree by Thesis (with Distinction). Julie has more than 30 years English and ESOL teaching experience in a range of countries, including Canada, Taiwan, Western Samoa, Chile, China and France. Julie's thesis topic examined the growing area of Critical Literacy - teaching students to read and think critically. Julie's other teaching strengths include writing and study skills, and preparing students for the IELTS exam, for which she is also an examiner.

Want to read what our students have to say about studying with us? Click Here!