E-learning focusses on skill development, continues to boom post the lockdown

Summary

• The e-learning sector is growing rapidly in the pandemic with increasing number of public and private courses being offered to upgrade the students' skills.
• While SAS is offering free online courses to Australian, and NZ's students to equip them with skills for the role of business analyst, Janison Education is conducting the University of London's online assessments for students.
• Industry players such as 3P Learning has seen a surge in demand for its online courses during the Covid-19 crisis whereas OpenLearning has inked a deal with Australian Catholic University to deliver online education for three years.

While world economies and businesses are still struggling with the pandemic, there are a few sectors for which this vast and unprecedented crisis has indeed come as a growth opportunity. It coerced the industries to development by coping up with new challenges, and one such industry is the e-learning.

The Australian e-learning space has been expanding exponentially post the lockdown with more and more courses being introduced by the government and the other e-learning service providers.

Australia has handled the pandemic well, and with gradual re-opening of the economies and still maintaining social distancing, things are becoming normal at snail-pace. Also, due to the prolonged crisis, taking online courses from the comfort of home is becoming the new norm. .

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As per the E-learning Market-Global Outlook and Forecast 2020-2025 study, the e-learning market is anticipated to show substantial growth opportunities in the next five years. Furthermore, with the development of cloud infrastructure, open content creation, peer-to-peer problem solving, and rapid growth of the target audience, the e-learning providers are meeting scale of economies and offering course content at affordable prices. The speedy growth in internet penetration in developing economies and increasing federal budgets augmented the market growth.

SAS offers free online courses to Australian, NZ students

Of late, need for data analyst is growing. However, there is a global dearth of competent business analysts. SAS has come up with its free Certified Young Professionals program for New Zealand and Australian students. The courses will have a sequence of supported self-learning modules. On the completion of modules, one gets upskilled for data analyst’s roles.

SAS has confirmed that these free courses are not limited to students with a particular IT degree or other educational prerequisites. Students from across educational backgrounds can access the free course 'Your Future Starts Here' through registering and can either download SAS software or access it online.

3P Learning Limited (ASX:3PL)

3PL is a global company in the E-learning sector. It has announced an update on its business operations for the period ended on 31 March 2020 (Q3-FY20).

The company has experienced an increase in demand for its online courses during the pandemic period. It has not faced any issues in the operations like marketing, sales and product development due to pandemic related uncertainty.

The full-year EBITDA is expected to be down compared to FY19 due to planned revenue and cost recognition factors. 3PL is anticipating generating positive operating cash flows for the full year and also cash to be higher at the end of the financial year 2020, compared to the corresponding period last year.

3P Learning CEO, Ms O'Flaherty said that right now they are focussing on supporting the staff and customers during the unprecedented time. Still, they will continue to monitor the impact of the pandemic on their businesses.

At the time of market closure, on 19 June 2020, 3PL traded at AU$0.750, in line with the previous close, with a market cap of AU$104.61 million.

Janison Education Group Limited (ASX:JAN)

Janison Education Group is an award-winning e-learning provider and also a Microsoft education partner that offers online assessment events across more than 100 countries.

The University of London ("UoL") has selected JAN to offer the technology and services to conduct online exams for the University's distance and flexible learning programs. As per the deal, Janison will deliver 37,000 examinations online for UoL's students in 100 countries, and the agreement is expected to be worth AU$650,000 for Janison over the next two years.

This is the first time that any University is conducting online exams using the remote proctoring technology. The project will utilize the digital exam platform, Janison Remote (remote proctoring solution), and Janison Insights. During the global travel restrictions due to the pandemic, JAN is aiding the University to perform its critical assessments.

JAN, UoL, and CoSector have worked within a strict deadline to make the examinations possible.

Craig O'Callaghan, Director of Operations, Deputy Chief Executive, UoL Worldwide, said that it was a high-speed project to ensure the continuity and certainty of the examinations.

Mark Newton, Managing Director of CoSector, said that they are confident about Janison helping them in meeting the demands of the examinations and students.

The online examinations will be recorded through the webcam and uploaded to be reviewed for integrity.

David Caspari, Janison's Chief Executive Officer, said by allowing the online assessment, the education will continue, which was halted due to the pandemic.

At the time of market closure, on 19 June 2020, JAN traded at AU$0.325, up by 4.839%, with a market cap of AU$64.99 million.

Also Read: Janison’s Results for FY20 YTD Out, 59% Growth in Assessment Recurring Revenue

OpenLearning Limited (ASX: OLL)

OpenLearning is an edtech company that offers software services as an online learning platform for global education providers. It provides a global marketplace of top-notch courses for learners of all level.

OLL alliances with Australian Catholic University: On 4 June 20202, OLL announced that Oll and Australian Catholic University have signed platform agreement to deliver online education for three years. As per the agreement, the minimum fees payable by ACU to OLL is AU$33k inc GST per annum.

At the time of market closure, on 19 June 2020, OLL traded at AU$0.195, with no change in price since 15 June 2020 and with a market cap of AU$27.23 million.

Good Read: How is Education Sector Placed With Online Learning TrendAmidst Virus Threat; Look at IEL, GEM, 3PL