Reverser bucket,
Yes those are all familiar names, I think some must stretch back to the early 90s ! When an "integrated" course really was as described, I recall they used to do the first 45 hours in Florida, then come back for the first ground exams.
The course has not been integrated in reality since the old CAP509 courses were replaced by EASA nearly 20 years ago. The reality is that it is just a continuous course with all the theory training in the classroom first, followed by all the flying. It would be best if "integrated" was either dropped as a name, or if you could not do theory exams until at least 45 hours of flying have been completed.
As you say, the "new Biggin" is the reality. The classroom part could be done at the sim centres, or any business park , so to have a stand-alone site for it at Oxford has limited business sense. The IR part just needs a GA friendly airport with approaches. Maybe a return to Gloucester?
The fact is that in a buoyant market, paying a gold plated price to go to an "integrated" school like CAE or L3 is a waste of money. Modular candidates are getting the jobs with an equal measure of success and without having the frustrating delays that have been a problem for the past two years in the big schools, many of which have been caused by instructors leaving due to declining terms and conditions.
It is significant that CAE and L3 took over successful stand alone schools and then sucked money away from front line staff to pay for acquisition costs and all the big corporate overheads. I expect both found out quickly that margins in CPL flight training are slim compared to what they are used to from their more normal big corporate and military customers.
It's a sector best left the small/medium sized enterprises in the modular category and the big outfits focus on the more capital intensive segment requiring simulators, such as Type Ratings.
You have to wonder about who decided that dropping the name Oxford was a good idea, given the draw the name still has in Europe and the ME. Probably some know-nothing in Montreal who had never heard of it.