Challenges faced in educational franchising

Education industry is referred to as the evergreen industry as its popularity is never ending due to the need of education at all stages of life. There has been a mushrooming of franchised kindergartens, primary schools as well as training centers in the last couple of years. This can be attributed to many factors. Franchising offers an easy way to get recognition for the new institute, its simple to set up a institute as basic work is done by the franchisor and there are more probabilities of it being a successful venture. Adding to these is another factor of youngsters constituting three fourth of the total population and the realization of benefits of schooling among the lower class. Do you think that with all these factors it is guaranteed that an institute will be a success? You may be wrong if you think so. Before setting a franchised institute it is better to be aware of the main challenges and considerations of running it. Let us have a look at them.

Location: Where will your education franchise be located? An ideal location for nursery schools would be in vicinity of residential areas as mostly parents do not prefer to send their young children to distant places, however good the school is. If you plan on starting it in your own locality or any other community, make sure you know about the demographics of the area. Are there many young families and children in the area? It is best to research and find out if you will have enough potential clients. For training institutes, computer centers etc the preferred location will be high streets so that youngsters can be aware about them.

Competition: The cropping up of so many institutes can place another challenge for your institute. If there are two franchised units in a area it can raise problems, making it difficult for both of them to be successful. Each school and institute guarantees of being better than the other by giving more advantages. Therefore you can face direct competition. While setting up an institute study the area carefully and find out who your competitors are or can be.

Unqualified staff: The success of a training and education franchise largely depends on its manpower resources. Although the course curriculum is from the parent institute, the faculty resource is a major criterion that needs serious evaluation. Finding employees from rich academic background can raise another hitch for franchising. Many franchised institutes do not find the right staff and employ unqualified and under qualified personnel which can hamper the success of the institute. For teaching in schools B.ed, MA or Phd is needed while a specialised institute of aviation, hospitality, CAT etc requires personnel from the same background. Thereby, making the search more difficult.

Lack of marketing: Educational institutes are hindered by lack of advertising. With the opening of n number of institutes, it is not possible to attract the patrons without employing unique marketing schemes. Making people aware of the exclusive benefits offered by the institute by advertising on television, newspapers as well on the websites can make it work.

Deviating from the Standards: Another challenge faced by the institutes is of maintaining the standard between the parent institute and the authorized institute. It could be that the parent institute is a century old and has established its repute for decades. But that cannot be a scale to measure the success of a franchisee as the service provided can be different but not inferior. Many times a franchised institute tries to employ different means to educate and subsequently fails at its attempts.  Therefore maintaining the standards of the parent company along with employing modern methods is the key for success of an institute.

Keeping in mind all the above challenges and the remedies is a sure short way to make your institute work. Remember education can be really a good business only if you consider the shortcomings as well.