How would higher education in the post COVID world?
Much against the popular belief, the real opportunity for Indian ed-techs in a post-COVID world lies in higher education & not at the K-12/undergraduate level.
At the risk of over-simplification, I’d go on to say the changes in education at the K-12/UG level are temporary & reversible. Students will still go to schools/colleges, study with their friends with the discipline of a weekly time-table & write pen-paper tests. Sure, it might take 18–24 months (or even more), but it’ll, most likely, happen.
However, the situation is very different at the PG level. Higher education programs can no longer promise the placement stats/global exposure programs — COVID’s eroded the value of pedigree, possibly putting more focus on faculty/alumni/research output.
The majority of Indians opting for higher studies are engineers with 1–3 years of Exp as a Software Developer/IT professional. With pay cuts & a huge opportunity cost with uncertain ROI, the audience might consider cheaper (both financial & time) upskilling alternatives with somewhat predictable ROI.
This presents a massive growth opportunity for ed-techs like upGrad, Simplilearn, Pluralsight, Skillshare & platforms like Topcoder that’d come at the expense of traditional education programs — MBA/MS.
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Views expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of my employers, present or past.
