Matt Tighe

Matt is the Managing Director of Bucksmore Education, overseeing the development and delivery of short-term academic programmes through Bucksmore summer programmes and Bucksmore Homelingua. Matt’s first experience with Oxford International was back in summer 2009 as an Activity Leader at the Guildford summer centre. He joined the Bucksmore head office team in October 2010 as Operations Manager and has worked his way up the ranks, being appointed Managing Director in 2014. Over the years he has been involved in every aspect of the company, from sorting centre sports equipment in a warehouse to setting long-term strategic goals to ensure Bucksmore remains a market leader in innovative academic short courses.

Since he started with Bucksmore in 2010 Matt has overseen a considerable number of changes and achievements, including revenue growth of 400%, the development of a head office team now six times bigger than in October 2010, and the arrival of over 20,000 students on Bucksmore programmes. In May 2014, he and Rory Wilkinson (the Bucksmore Chairman) completed the purchase of Homelingua and integrated the year-round 1:1 home tuition provider into the Bucksmore portfolio of programmes.

Matt is passionate about delivering quality programmes, and nothing gives him greater pleasure than hearing success stories from students who have progressed through Bucksmore courses and gone on to achieve great things. He also enjoys the quirks of working in the education industry and meeting people from so many different cultures, including but not limited to featuring in an unexpected press-conference on Armenian TV and sipping tea with the next door neighbour of the King of Jordan.

Before joining Oxford International, Matt studied for four years at Magdalene College, Cambridge University, which he is delighted to continue to promote as one of Bucksmore’s summer centres. He spent three of these years as an English Literature student, and one year at the Judge Business School.

When not at his desk, Matt is often found running increasingly slowly around a football or rugby pitch. He’s also a long-suffering Aston Villa fan but prefers not to talk about this.