News

WSET makes new record in global reach

28 September 2022 By Patrick Schmitt

Students in a record 75 countries enrolled for a WSET qualification in the 2021-2022 academic year, taking their exams in 15 different languages.

While WSET’s wine courses remain the most popular with students, spirits and sake qualifications also continued to grow. 11% of candidates took digital courses through WSET’s Online Classroom.

In total, 117,000 students took a WSET qualification in 2021-2022, which is up 8% from last year. The USA remained WSET’s largest market, registering over 23,000 candidates and showing 15% growth. In the EMEA region, the UK was the fastest growing and biggest market, notching up 36% growth with 20,000 candidates registered. The Netherlands, Germany and Spain also showed significant growth, with the Netherlands making it into WSET’s top ten markets for the first time. In the APAC region, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan (China) and South Korea – all top 10 WSET markets – were the strongest performers. Course providers in the Chinese Mainland were unable to resume business until the middle of July.

WSET chief executive Michelle Brampton said, “Despite the challenges of the last academic year, with the ongoing impacts of the global pandemic and business in the Chinese Mainland suspended, I am delighted that more students than ever before were able to take one of our qualifications thanks to the support of our global network of course providers and commitment of the WSET team.”

The top 10 WSET markets by candidate registrations for the academic year 2021-22:
1. USA
2. UK
3. France
4. Hong Kong SAR, China
5. Canada
6. Australia
7. Singapore
8. Taiwan, China
9. South Korea
10. The Netherlands