I agree that foreign doses in individual EFs are often merely puppets with very little or no real power to do anything. Certainly the Chinese who run these establishments are not usually looking for a foreign 'expert' to come in and run their academic department. They are looking for someone who will jump through hoops and god save them if they suggest a course of action that is geared towards the long term educational benefit of the school as opposed to short term profit making.

I have heard directly from the mouth of an owner of several EF franchise schools that his plan is to build a business on the back of the EF brand and then simply change the sign above the door to avoid paying the huge annual franchise fees while keeping the students and goodwill that was built up while the school was an EF.

As I wrote in a post further down this thread there has been backlash from students and parents as a result of this. Only the other night I was told by a friend who has a girlfriend working as a local teacher at an EF that they have had dozens of refunds off the back of the show and many more complaints and concerns. The good thing in this case about Chinese culture is that public opinion can reach critical mass quite quickly. Look at the situation that occurred with Carrefour back in 2008. Once the general public gets the bit between it's teeth then it can do some serious damage to the reputation of a company.

EF is not about to fall and you are right that those who do leave EF don't have a lot of options for good private training but at least this demonstrates that Chinese consumers are becoming a little more savvy in their choices. I've posted several times before that this will be important in improving services in all fields across china.