Page 32 - EW May 2020 for Flipbuilder

Special Essay

Online learning explosion

opportunities

GAURAV SINGH

OOSTED BY MULTIPLE FORCES THE HIGHER ‹e forced closure of all academic
education landscape is transforming rapidly with
a major shift towards online education. For over institutions from preschool to Ph
Ba decade we have been hearing that the online D following the outbreak of the
learners’ community has matured and acceptance of online
learning is growing in leaps and bounds. Over the past two Covid-19 pandemic has created huge
months the national lockdown, which has forced the closure opportunities in online education
of all academic institutions from preschool to Ph D follow-
ing the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, has become a
major disrupter which has precipitated changes like never NOU, KSOU, and Nalanda Open University account for 80
before, near and long-term. percent of enrolments. With conventional top-rated bricks-
With media attention focused on the impact of the pan- n-mortar universities set to go online in a big way, it may
demic, the announcement on January 30 that six private be curtains for these open universities in the near future.
universities have received UGC approval to provide online In this connection it’s worth noting that in 2006-12, over
degree courses — which should have been a cause for na- 300,000 students were enrolled in the distance learning
tional celebration — went unnoticed. programmes of the Gangtok-based Sikkim Manipal Univer-
The back story is that in 2018, the Delhi-based Univer- sity (SMU estb. 1992) which provides a blend of online and
sity Grants Commission (UGC) notified on its website that conventional face-to-face diploma and degree study pro-
all HEIs (higher education institutions) countrywide could grammes in its network of 500 bricks-n-mortar learning
offer online certificate, diploma and degree programmes centres. However probably discomfited by SMU’s success,
on condition that they have been operational for at least UGC mandarins re-interpreted its charter restricting it to
five years; are accredited by NAAC with a minimum score offer its blended learning programmes to students within
of 3.26; are ranked in the NIRF 100 (National Institutional the boundaries of Sikkim state, which eventually led to clo-
Rankings Framework of the Union HRD ministry) for at sure of SMU’s distance education division in 2012.
least two years in the previous three years, and are already eanwhile, unregulated offshore online degree educa-
offering a similar course (offline or online) from which one Mtion providers such as Coursera, upGrad and edX have
batch has graduated. also managed to capture a large chunk of the Indian higher
The six universities given the green light on January education market. However, the indications are that UGC
30 met all these preconditions. Even so it took 18 months licensed online learning providers will be free to collaborate
before they could get going. But there’s no denying that a with these offshore universities/MOOCs providers to offer
flood of nearly 35 odd eligible universities are ramping up professional courses.
to meet these preconditions and begin offering online cer- The imminent online learning revolution in higher edu-
tificate, diploma and degree study programmes. The UGC cation — assuming that government and Internet service
green light combined with the thrust given to digital educa- providers offer robust and reliable connectivity — is certain
tion by the Covid-19 crisis has created huge opportunities to cause major disruptions.
in online education. • Top-ranked colleges/ universities are likely to prosper at
To understand the scale of business opportunity in the the cost of also-rans
higher education space, it’s instructive to examine busi- • Ed-tech research and innovation will shift to universities
ness management education. Today an estimated 588,000 • Students with online learning experience will have an
youth are in MBA diploma/degree programmes in 5,500 edge in bricks-n-mortar institutions
B-schools countrywide. Aggregate enrolment in India’s • Online education providers will need to become market-
Top 100 B-schools is not more than 10 percent, i.e, nearly ing savvy
60,000. The remaining MBA aspirants are learning in B • Demand for online education technicians and managers
and C grade B-schools which provide indifferent and prob- will explode
ably outdated business management education. • Demand for technically proficient teachers and faculty
But after the imminent online learning explosion, a will also explode
huge number of the estimated 520,000 students in B and The sea-change in favour of digital education is also set
C grade colleges are likely to sign up for the online MBA to give a huge boost to e-commerce, enabling a variety of
programmes of the IIMs and other top-ranked B-schools. entrepreneurs to enter the education domain and dissemi-
Similarly in the arts, science and commerce higher educa- nate knowledge through the digital medium. Stand-by for
tion segment, 14 Central and state government open uni- synergies between e-learning and e-commerce.
versities are providing distance education degree courses to (Gaurav Singh is a senior manager (education practice), Ernst & Young,
1.2 million students across India. Eight of them such as IG- Gurgaon)

32 EDUCATIONWORLD MAY 2020