Asia-Pacific E-Learning Market Outlook, 2027

The Asia-Pacific region is one of the fastest developing regions in the world, and it now comprises just shy of a third (32%) of the e-learning market’s growth. That’s because Asia, in its entirety, accounts for about half of all internet users in the world, many of whom are smartphone-first.

According to the report Asia-Pacific E-Learning Market Outlook, 2027 the market in the year 2021 was at a value of USD 52 billion. The growing smartphone penetration, combined with the ease of access to high-speed internet connectivity in several countries, will drive the growth of the e-learning market. With around 95% internet penetration in the region, the e-learning industry will gain traction. The availability of strong internet connectivity even in remote areas and small towns will propel market growth. The region is expected to show a growth rate of over 14% during the forecast period, posing as one of the most potential regions. According to the obtained data, around nine in ten South Koreans own a smartphone.

Currently, there is an emphasis on tech rather than learning sciences, and the companies are just creating marketplaces for courses. The content provider segment accounts for the highest share in the region with more than 95% even through the year 2021. Asia is moving more towards technological advancements where the involvement of AI has been higher. The AI is not only about automatic correction or helping the teachers get their assignments done, but it also helps mimic the kind of individualized attention that students previously could only receive through one-on-one instruction.

The academic segment in the region is expected to dominate the market, while the government segment is also likely to have a marginal incline in the market. Investors in ed-tech companies are betting on the idea that gamified learning can produce better outcomes, or at least give children an edge over their peers. Mobile e-learning is anticipated to show a higher growth rate in the coming period, which is potentially the highest in the segment. To improve learning outcomes, companies need to focus as much on teaching as technology. The companies that need to push through in learning and education, in general, have to be pedagogically designed.

The region is highly driven by the deep penetration of the internet, which accounts for about half of all internet users in the world, many of which are smartphone-first. The concept of e-learning is gaining popularity in the region, with the change of generation & young parents willing to spend more on such technologies. This resulted in the largest online movement in the history of education, with approximately 730,000 K-12 students attending classes via the Tencent K-12 Online School in Wuhan. In February, around 200 million primary and secondary school students in the country started their new semester online. High competition in the industry is forcing emerging players to introduce innovative services to strengthen their position and increase market share. For instance, in April 2020, OpenLearning Limited partnered with Alibaba, a leading e-commerce giant in China, to expand its online learning services in the Chinese education market. The partnership aims to ensure that students in China can access online courses in a compliant manner.

Disruptions in the orthodox way of teaching and learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic have fueled the Asia-Pacific e-learning industry. On the back of the ever-changing business landscape, industry players are gearing up to adopt artificial intelligence and machine learning. As e-learning becomes the new normal, the confluence of technology with education has triggered innovations across APAC. Learning strategies and business models have witnessed a paradigm shift with the trend of virtualization and remote working. Online learning has emerged as a preferred method of learning, bridging the gap between work and learning. A relentless move towards continuous learning mechanisms has encouraged corporate employees to seek short, modularized courses on tablets and smart-phones. Additionally, the increasing number of SMEs in India and South Korea has further added impetus to advanced mobile learning solutions.

Notably, Australian schools implemented remote online learning, although a majority of schools continued as normal. In March 2020, public schools in Australia provided laptop loans to bridge the digital divide among students. The academic sector could hold a considerable share of the Asia-Pacific market through 2027. Furthermore, in South Korea, the Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) partnered with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Women and Family to develop new digital learning websites for software coding and 3D education. Mobile learning is adopted by corporate employees as they can undertake short, modularized courses on smart-phones or tablets even while travelling. This enables us to save the time spent on employee training during work hours. It also enables the training of a globally distributed workforce through a single unified platform. The rise in the number of SMEs in countries, such as South Korea and India, will propel the demand for high-quality mobile learning solutions.

E-learning is a cost-effective alternative that finds application across different sectors, such as agriculture, healthcare, training, and education. It is also extensively used in the corporate sector for conducting training and collaborative programs. In the Asia-Pacific region, various e-learning platforms, such as edX and Coursera, offer certified and university-affiliated courses, providing lucrative opportunities to aspiring students. The key players operating in the industry include Apollo Education Group, Adobe Systems Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Citrix Education, Meridian Knowledge Solutions, Microsoft Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Skillsoft, and SAP SE. Players are launching innovative learning platforms to withstand the growing industry competition. Several e-learning providers have launched local language-based study materials for a better understanding of students and easy learning processes. These offerings are promoting online educational solutions in countries including Thailand and Vietnam, which face language barrier issues.

The Asia-Pacific e-learning market is primarily driven by the growing number of universities and schools and the expanding population. Additionally, several regional universities are collaborating with foreign institutes to deliver online courses. Furthermore, international companies are also partnering with local and regional players to localize their products and deliver better content to meet the increased demand. Moreover, governmental initiatives for integrating e-learning solutions into the education system and developing the internet infrastructure are also promoting the market's growth. As a result of the ongoing corona-virus disease (COVID-19), governments of various countries have introduced e-learning schemes for balancing the education sector. For instance, online education companies operating in China have increased from 100 in 2012 to over 8,000 in 2016.

For example, BYJU’s is an application that helps students learn concepts of different subjects more quickly and effectively using lucrative demonstrations and visuals, thereby boosting the market growth. However, there are some individuals and students who enroll in online programs while working their jobs or while taking other degrees to get double degrees. For example, EduKart is an e-learning-based higher education platform based in India. This platform facilitates the provision of courses related to MBA (Masters in Business Administration) and BA (Bachelor of Arts), among others, from both international and Indian universities.

With the advancement in technology, organizations intend to shift their business practices to the cloud and reduce reliance on in-house expertise. Organizations use cloud-based development and learning processes to reduce large upfront investments, provide scalability and flexibility, and comply with changing business requirements. Organizations that are keen on automating and streamlining their learning processes to enable anytime, anywhere, and just-in-time access to learning content prefer to use LMS software. The SaaS delivery model simplifies the customization and integration of LMS and reduces capital expenditures and operating costs. China accounts for the highest percentage of the LMS market share. However, the penetration level of LMS is lower as compared to developed countries such as Australia and Japan. However, in the last few years, the market has witnessed attractive growth as both large and medium-sized organizations have adopted this electronic educational technology. Moreover, the change in the traditional education system and the increase in the number of start-ups in the e-learning industry have encouraged the market's growth.

Recent Developments:

• Recently, in April 2020, Japan's National Tourism Organization (JNTO) announced that they had launched a new e-learning platform that would cater to and aid in the training and development of travel agents across the growing product base. The portal was developed in such a way that it is designed to provide a complete suite of online training modules compiled with training and management tools and uses the latest principles in e-learning to ensure that the learners can retain the knowledge effectively and engagingly. In addition, it provides five different types of modules.
• In April 2020, the Department of Personnel and Training announced that it had launched an online learning platform in order to provide adequate and required training for dealing with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The primary goal of this new platform, dubbed iGOT, is to provide the necessary training to doctors, nurses, and paramedics, as well as other healthcare workers, technicians, auxiliary nurses, midwives (ANM's), Central and State government officers, National Cadet Corps (NCC), and National Service Scheme (NSS).
• Nov 2021-Oracle announced the opening of the Oracle Academy Career Center, an online centre with free access to academic content, technical certifications, professional development opportunities, and tools for experiential learning both inside and outside the classroom. The Oracle Academy Career Center, designed for higher education, provides learning pathways for a variety of professions, including engineering and development, human resources, finance, and sales.
• Nov.2021- To advance higher education learning, Pearson has launched a digital library. Multiple devices can access the digital library, which includes quick revision tools including voice notes, highlighting, hyperlinks, and weblinks.
• ByteDance, a Singapore-based collaboration suite initially developed by ByteDance as an internal tool to meet its own exponential growth, began offering teachers and students unlimited video conferencing time, auto-translation capabilities, real-time co-editing of project work, and smart calendar scheduling, amongst other features. It ramped up its global server infrastructure and engineering capabilities to ensure reliable connectivity.
• Alibaba’s distance learning solution, DingTalk, had to prepare for a similar influx whereby to support large-scale remote work, the platform tapped Alibaba Cloud to deploy more than 100,000 new cloud servers in just two hours last month - setting a new record for rapid capacity expansion.

COVID-19 Impacts:

The ongoing corona-virus pandemic will boost the e-learning industry in the region. Corporate organizations are using digital training methods to train employees due to the temporary closure of businesses. Educational institutions are conducting online lectures to ensure the safety and optimum health of students by following social distancing measures. However, with the gradual reopening of schools and universities following the relaxation in lockdown measures imposed, the e-learning market will witness a slight downfall. The major constraint in the market is that many parents, wary of online learning, prefer to send their children to in-person tutoring centers. Parents may be paying for ed-tech, but they’re not the ultimate users of these products, and the courses don’t come cheap. India has the largest school-going population in the world but still ranks low in major global assessments because learning is driven by the fear of exams rather than the love of learning. Also, COVID-19-induced lockdowns have led to the popularity of LMS across organizations as a course catalogue in the formal education system. Notably, the integration of AI and the cloud into LMS has spurred the trend of e-learning. AI-fueled personalization, along with AR and VR, is expected to bolster immersive training. Precisely, VR simulation, 3D boards, and real-life scenarios will help enhance learning engagement. However, with the gradual reopening of schools and universities following the relaxation in lockdown measures imposed, the e-learning market will witness a slight downfall.

Major Companies present in the market

Adobe Inc., Aptara inc. (iEnergizer), Blackboard Inc., Cisco systems Inc., Citrix system Inc., Docebo Inc., Gp Strategies Corporation, Oracle corporation, Pearson plc, Skillsoft Corporation

Considered In the Report

• Geography: Asia-Pacific
• Historical year: 2016
• Base year: 2021
• Estimated year: 2022
• Forecasted year: 2027

Countries covered:

• China
• India
• Japan
• Australia

Aspects Covered In the Report

• Market Size By Value for the historic time period (2016-2021)
• Market Size By Value for the forecast time period (2022-2027)
• Market Share by Technology (Online e-learning, LMS (Learning management system), Mobile e-learning, Rapid e-learning, Virtual classroom, Others)
• Market Share by Producers (Service & Content)
• Market Share by Application (Academic, K-12, Higher education, Vocational training, Corporate, SMBs, Large enterprises, Government)
• Market Share by Country (2016, 2021 & 2027F)

Intended Audience

This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations & organizations related to the E-learning industry, government bodies, and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.