The Covid-19 crisis and the following lockdown have led many to concentrate on up-skilling for a drastically changed and challenging job market. The government’s latest decisions on the New Education Policy (NEP) – 2020 talks on enhancing the efficacy of digital learning platforms and techniques that would mark India’s online market for higher education and learning create a 10x rise over the next five years. As per RedSeer Consulting’s latest report, the market will be $5 Bn by FY2025.
Owing to India’s digital divide, NEP, approved by the Union Cabinet on July 29, has a particular emphasis on digital education and remote learning and the concern of equal access to education. According to the analysis, macroeconomic factors such as easing of regulations for online degrees, plugging of supply-side capacity gaps, and realizing the need for higher education and up-skilling among students, among others, will also help for the growth in the sector.
The report states that 75 percent will be for online higher education, while 25 percent would be for lifelong learning among the $4-6 Bn markets for online higher education and lifelong learning by 2025. The report adds that online higher education will benefit from increased public investment, targeting 6% of its GDP. The reported figures include sales of Ed-tech companies in India D2C (direct sales to the consumer) while the revenues of Ed-tech companies based overseas are discounted.
Regarding the long-term learning markets, some reasons people will take short online courses to gain expertise in in-demand skills include increasingly high skill levels, insufficient industry-based education, and increased unemployment.
Growth of Ed-tech industry in India
The Fourth Industrial Revolution put India on the international digital map and gave the start-up economy a boost. Although areas such as wellness, finance, and logistics were widely embraced, the Ed-Tech industry also took steps to provide a new way to learn. The pandemic and succeeding lockdown around the world immediately forced the entire students’ learning to move online. Not only did schools play a vital role in this modern way of knowledge, but Ed-Tech companies were also allowed to meet the rising demand for online learning. In reality, according to the Ministry of Human Resource Development statistics, as of June 2020, by 2030, Ed-Tech’s expenditure will exceed 10 trillion dollars.
The substantial decreases in the cost of education delivery online, increased Internet and mobile penetration and a huge untapped customer base are some other important factors contributing to the growth. With the lockdown in effect, learning shifted seismically, and everyone had to move online virtually overnight. Talking about technology, such as AI and Machine Learning (ML), gives individual learners a personalized experience. Customization is vital in tailoring learning experiences so that students don’t get bored or find the material going over their heads, be it at school or university.
Also, this year’s Union budget announcements authorized the top 100 Indian universities to provide comprehensive online education programs under the National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF). Several Indian universities currently offer online-based programs and courses for distance and professional learning. The report states that online higher education is essential in meeting the supply needs of the increasing number of students who are looking for higher education in the coming years.
According to the broader Indian Ed-tech industry, capital inflows in the K12 and test preparation segments have been relatively higher in the ‘Future of India’s $2 Bn Ed-tech Opportunity Report 2020.’ By 2021, K-12 and test preparation combined will make $1.3 billion (66%) of the overall online educational market size. The skill development and online certification of the Indian Ed-tech sector could perhaps account for $463 million, increasing at a CAGR of 38% from 2016-21.
In conjunction with COVID, many macro trends have made a new imperative to continuous learning to remain relevant. Rapid shifts in areas such as automation and macroeconomics consequently affect job prospects. There is also a greater need for life-long learning than ever before. Lifelong learning is now seen as a necessity for the future.
As the government sets aggressive goals to double higher education enrolment, online services will play an essential role in enabling supply, innovation, and democratizing access to education. The ultimate funnel expansion for higher education combined with the rise in lifelong learning sets adoption will help Ed-Tech expand by ~ 10 times to reach ~$5 billion by 2025 fiscal year.
International colleges and universities also deliver new MOOCs and distance learning courses. A rise in tuition fees, and a high interest in educational loans in both developed and developing countries, has brought an increase in the costs of getting campus education, which is slowly changing the trend towards online learning solutions.
How ITIL frameworks help organizations during this pandemic?
The enterprise and IT model is now being adopted rapidly globally by all types of governments, companies, and organizations. The technological world is in continuous flux, with the high demand for information technology (IT) certifications. IT certifications will pave the way for a promising and lucrative IT career. With the rising demand for IT professionals, there exist few top highest-paying certifications in the market.
While choosing a professional certification, foresight is vital because it is beneficial for experts to plan promising outcomes in their careers. The Information Technology Infrastructure Library, in short, named the ITIL framework, is the world’s most commonly recognized IT Management System, new to the top 10 this year. ITIL is mostly related to the information technology industry. It also incorporates Service Management principles and is also used in various industries, such as health care and higher education. ITIL certification is a prerequisite for people who want to know about ITIL frameworks’ concepts and develop IT services management quality.
Whether those changes are political, economic, social, and the consequence of a dreadful virus such as COVID-19. With ITIL 4, and its full support of Agile, Lean, DevOps, and other best practices, a company can monitor evolving environments effectively, react quickly and effectively to speed up the marketing of new goods and services. And also provide instant customer relief, and thrive in this fast-track, interdependency, digital world in which we live.
