Emma Lancaster
leadership
Chief executive
Study Group | Europe
Emma Lancaster was appointed chief executive officer of Study Group in 2018, having served as Chief Financial Officer since April 2013. Emma has a deep commitment to Study Group’s mission to ‘make a better world through education’ and to working with a global team and diverse university partners across the world to make this is a reality. A colleague said: “She is unafraid to innovate and has handled the most disruptive external circumstances for international education of our lifetimes with purpose and agility, never forgetting the needs of students.”
Emma has led Study Group to continue to recruit and support international students who have studied in person, online, in hybrid mode and at newly founded satellite campuses. The company introduced new products to support study skills, and employability and tailored to the needs of particular subjects.
She also set up emergency teams to provide guidance to students and partners on everything from Covid visa regulations across the world to support for students impacted by the war in Ukraine. “Throughout all this, student progression and satisfaction has been sustained and, in some cases, even increased. This reflects the work of a strong team well-led, with an ethos of educational quality and student success at its heart,” someone said.
Emma led Study Group – a global firm at a time of “real uncertainty and turbulence” – through the many challenges for international education of the pandemic while also supporting her own family and children’s education through lockdown. As with many other women across the sector, she juggled the needs of work and home, drawing on her experience to understand challenges common to many across the sector in a way widely appreciated by her team.