By Andrew J Kittell, Director of Corporate Relations, ACS North American Office With summer here, the ACS North American Office team concludes its active enrolment cycle-linked travel schedule. The focus now will be on helping families in transition to the UK and Qatar as well as assisting in the growth and development of an enhanced Alumni and Friends Association.
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Looking immediately back, a wrap up of springtime conferences and events attended follows:
In late April, ACS Director, Corporate Relations Andrew Kittell joined Houston business leaders and members of the Board of the British-American Foundation of Texas, Consul General Karen Bell, and six academically able and richly deserving “Junior Achievers” who received full all-expenses-paid scholarships to attend this July’s ACS British Studies Summer Program (BSSP), sited at our Cobham campus.
Now in its 19th year, BSSP has enriched the lives of over 300 high schoolers from across America, selected competitively with an aim of reaching the underserved.
Early May saw ACS exhibit during the FEM Americas Summit in Denver. Expert-delivered presentations there focused on emerging assignment types, including cross-border commuters and assignees on local-plus terms.
All agreed that compliance with both immigration and tax laws is keeping Mobility leaders awake at night and that a new war for talent will soon shift bargaining power to employees with critical leadership and technical skills. The more senior of these talented people will still most likely relocate with families, expecting that their children remain whole and progressing within an outstanding educational setting. For now 50 years, today’s ACS International Schools have met this need.
At the end of May Anglo-American business leaders gathered in Chicago, discussing the enduring special relationship between the US and Great Britain. Brexit was a topic widely addressed, and one introducing considerable uncertainty - likely holding back inward investment and relocation into the UK. Nevertheless, this short-term negative might soon lead to a substantive US-UK bilateral trade agreement, one accelerating the economies of both countries and facilitating increased mobility between two great nations.
During September-November, please look for ACS attending and/or exhibiting at these key relocation and education-linked events:
Canadian ERC Conference in Calgary (September 10th-12th)
Worldwide ERC Global Workforce Symposium in Chicago (September 27th -29th)
Independent Educational Consultants Association Conference in Washington, DC (November 15th – 17th)