One of Bournemouth’s longest-established colleges for overseas students has gone into liquidation with the loss of 33 jobs.

MLS International Limited, which traded as M.L.S International College, was established in 1985.

It offered adults a variety of programmes in the English language.

Many courses were for special purposes, such as the aviation industry.

The college was based at Westover Chambers in Hinton Road, Bournemouth.

At its height, the company welcomed more than 2,000 students from around 40 countries each year to the college.

It’s estimated that up to £150m was contributed to the local economy during its 35-year history.

MLS International Limited had a turnover of about £2.3m in the year ending March 2019.

However, following the closure of all educational institutions in March due to the pandemic, together with issues around the legality of being able to provide certain specialist training online, the business had not generated any revenue since April.

The company had also recently been advised of the termination and delay of key aviation industry contracts until at least Spring 2021.

As a result the directors decided MLS International Limited should formally cease trading and be placed in liquidation with all 33 employees made redundant.

Tim Ball and Mike Field of Mazars LLP were appointed as Joint Liquidators by the creditors on September 24.

Mr Field, pictured left, said: “It is sad to see a company like MLS International Limited fail as it is a college that has long-established training traditions and is well known in the town, abroad and in the industry.

“The external factor of the Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted this business which has, in its most recent year, been profitable.

“Unfortunately, given the reduction in international air travel, the uncertainty as to when air travel will return to any normality and no guarantee that overseas students would want to travel to the UK to learn English in sufficient numbers for the business to be profitable, the directors had to make the difficult decision to cease trading and enter liquidation to prevent the position worsening for creditors.

“Parties interested in acquiring either the business or the company’s assets, should contact Mazars LLP.”