What Makes a Good Training and Education Franchise?

A franchise is a business relationship through which the parent company or the franchisor authorizes a franchisee to sell their goods and services in a particular area. The franchisee has the right to use the technique, trademark but is bound by the business standards of the franchisor.

The concept of franchising has caught up in the career training and education field. A number of parent institutions have handed over training centers to franchisees today. This is an opportunity for students who are not able to relocate to the parent institution itself due to various constraints.

The Franchising Advantage

Reasons why a franchise relationship is established are many. From the franchisor point of view it is easier to extend their services to a wider base of individuals with less operational hassles. The franchising model is also cost effective for the franchisor as it does not have to waste its resources on manpower management and other administrative costs.  

It is possible to expand the geographic presence while making use of the franchisee resources and local expertise. The challenge for the parent company is to make the authorized entity maintain the same quality of business standards and ethics and ensure that the customer satisfaction levels are not compromised.

From the franchisee point of view all that is required is capital and business acumen to flourish in that particular field. The need for building goodwill and credibility of the brand is almost nil as it is taken care of by the parent company. This makes it easier to concentrate on the business and deliver quality service to the customers or clients.

Gauging The Right Training And Education Franchise

Training and education is a part of the service industry. Gauging the quality of the services provided by the franchisee is not always easy. The challenge a prospective candidate will face is to weigh difference 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 is intangible.

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. Before enrolling into any program you should take a few steps to find out about the resources on the program. You can talk to the counselor at the institute, past or present students enrolled in the program or take opinion from others in the same field. Look for the qualification, experience in teaching, hands-on industry experience and their ability to deliver as a teacher.

It is always good to ensure that the franchisee follows the course curriculum provided by the mother institute. Also make sure that you get all the benefits assigned to students by franchisor, if any. For example, the price of the courseware might have been included in the fee structure. You can also avail the infrastructure facilities such the library, computer center or any other additional facilities that has been authorized to the students as per the franchise agreement.

James Copper is a writer for http://www.trainingebase.co.uk where you can find information on new job training