Next to German and French, knowing Spanish can open up doors of opportunities across the world, and particularly so in India. As such, Instituto Hispania is in the right place at the right time
There is a great demand for experts in Spanish language along with other qualifications for multinational companies settled in India. Unfortunately, there is a shortage of such professionals. “We wanted to create the first private institute where we facilitate Spanish language learning and promotion of interculturality, aimed to improve business relations between India and other countries”, says Laura Benito, Director General, Instituto Hispania. It is precisely this gap that triggered the seed of Instituto Hispania.
Instituto Hispania was founded in 1997 in New Delhi and soon it started centres in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. Currently the institute is operating in five metropolitan cities.
“Overall in our 21-year trajectory the institute has trained more than 70,000 students in Spanish language in different degrees of proficiency. Several factors are instrumental in the growth of Spanish teaching in India but the common factor is the increase in aware- ness that knowing Spanish can be of great advantage,” says Benito. In 1990 the Indian government started opening its economy and allowed foreign companies to invest in India. This opened the floodgates for huge amounts of capital coming into the country and also the influx of foreigners who wanted to set up manufacturing, trading or service industries.
At the same time, Indians started exploring the world to a larger degree on account of more information available due to the internet and social media. Travelling to Spain and Spanish-speaking nations as tourists or to explore business opportunities was one of the spin-offs. Spanish is spoken in 22 countries by more than 450 million people. In fact, in the US, the second most spoken language is Spanish! With multinationals creating a demand for those with a proficiency in Spanish, Instituto Hispania has thus taken a lead role.
THE PACKAGE
Instituto Hispania’s services include teaching Spanish and undertaking translations, interpretations and voice-overs not only for Spanish but for other foreign languages also. The institute also undertakes corporate trainings for large companies that have processes requiring trained personnel. The institute has developed a syllabus and methodology that offers value for money since students learn more in less amount of time. It has also developed its own study material, inculcating the experience of the past two decades and adapted to the idiosyncrasies of a multilingual society like India. At their centres in all the five cities, the institute offers various levels of study from A1 (beginners) to C1 (advanced) as per the international standards of proficiency. “We also follow a continuous teachers’ training programme to keep them updated. The tuition fee per level is Rs 10,000, an affordable amount for those looking to expand their linguistic skills” Benito informs. As value-addition, the centres also organise various cultural activities related to Spain and the native Spanish-speaking people so as to educate students about Spain and countries in Latin America. “This provides a lot of insights into the culture and lifestyle of the Spanish nations,” Benito says.
QUICK PLACEMENTS
“We have a department for placements and we also conduct placement camps for multinational companies like Accenture, Metlife, Genpact and others,” says Benito. In fact, placements are easy considering the rising demand for such experts. “To qualify for a job the candidate must have a level equivalent to B2 or higher, hence only those who consistently learn the language can apply for the available jobs,” Benito says. However, a challenge is to motivate students to continue to higher levels since many of them do not understand that there are good opportunities for career development waiting for them if they reach the top most proficiency level.
FRANCHISE GROWTH
In the last 21 years the management of Instituto Hispania has been able to spread to five cities and trained more than 70,000 students with 15 full time Spanish teachers and a team of 45 part time Indian teachers. Now, using the franchise route, the institute would like to expand at twice the speed. “Spanish language can reach many metropolitan and Tier I and Tier II cities and compete with other foreign languages like French or German. Our expansion plan in the first phase includes setting up a wider presence in the National Capital Region such as Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad, Rohini and Dwarka. In Mumbai we want to also be present in areas like Navi Mumbai, Colaba, Andheri,and Airoli. In Chennai we want to expand to areas like Anna Nagar, Kilpauk, Pursawalkam and Ambattur,” Benito reveals. In subsequent phases the institute would also like to expand to other states like Kerala, West Bengal, Gujarat, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, etc. “I see an opportunity for investors because Instituto Hispania is unique; there is hardly any initiative done in this area of education in India and due to globalisation, knowledge means power and therefore the Spanish teaching business will grow exponentially in the coming years. The time period for return of investment is only around 1.5 years,” she says.
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