Education technology fueled by quest for learning

Education technology is big news, both for China and the rest of the world. The fusion of two vital sectors for societal development has led to an interestingly positive impact on foreign nationals as well as China's international development and cultural open-mindedness.

Just one sector of education technology, online English teaching, is expected to grow to be an $8 billion (7 billion euros; ￡6.3 billion) industry in 2019. This figure, as well as being a healthy indicator of the fast-paced growth of the tech industry as a whole in China, also supports roughly more than 100,000 foreign teachers, many of whom come from developing countries where having a secondary, remote source of income makes all the difference.

The hunger that fuels the rapidly growing education technology industry comes from the tenacity of Chinese families, who are often willing to spend more than a third of their income on their children's education, according to a study by the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing. The priority on education in Chinese values is a self-fulfilling prophecy in itself, as the hunger for knowledge fuels an industry that provides empowering services to millions of young, developing minds.

Earlier this year, the Chinese education technology start up VIPKID was valued at a jaw-dropping $3 billion. Such figures for a startup are considered a strong sign. For an education startup, however, this is unheard of internationally, and a result of the unique fusion of cultural family values and the passion for fast-paced technology that is endemic to China.

For many Chinese, this is common knowledge and nothing out of the ordinary. However, the plethora of anecdotal evidence is backed by research done by the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business. Zhang Weining, an associate professor, says: "Families will buy a very, very expensive instrument for a kid to learn music while living in a very, very small apartment and eating very, very simple food. They do this because the kid is the hope of the entire family. It's a lot of pressure on the kids, but it means kids get a higher budget for education."

Many education technology companies such as VIPKID are making the most of this by using high-speed broadband connections to connect Chinese children of the growing middle class to fluent English-speaking teachers for one-on-one lessons. The company has nearly 300,000 students, according to research by Bloomberg. The obvious issue of location and transportation has been solved by technology for Chinese students who wish to learn from American or British teachers.

With the advent of 5G internet technology, it is likely that such setups will become even more mobile in the future. This will allow companies to host ever-more-interactive content and novel teaching methods to keep students engaged and the market competitive. Developments in fields such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality mean that education technology startups will continue to scratch their heads even harder in an effort to maximize the number of English words learned per yuan spent.

This situation is a winning formula for Chinese students, budding entrepreneurs and foreign nationals. Teachers using platforms such as VIPKID can expect to earn up to $36,000 a year from remote work that does not require the teacher to travel anywhere. Chinese companies that offer such services to teachers follow local tax regulations and laws appropriate for the individual teacher in question, allowing money to go directly into the local economies. Advances in financial technology will also continue to expand on the already convenient payment systems that many platforms use, which will allow payments to go directly into domestic bank accounts, and in local currencies.

The meteoric success of companies such as VIPKID, New Oriental and 51Talk will no doubt continue to be fueled by the incessant demand for child education.

Technology is a many armed beast, and, as such, education technology will continue to benefit from advances in areas such as VR and AI, morphing teaching products, services and platforms into something that no doubt will be unrecognizable in the years to come.

Teachers around the world also benefit greatly from this lucrative source of employment. A success story is rarely a one-person job, and China's thirst for knowledge and empowerment is yet another way for everyone to share in the success.

The author is a London-based columnist. Contact the writer at editor@mail.chinadailyuk.com

(China Daily Africa Weekly 11/23/2018 page11)