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Singapore, 19 June 2003
According to IDP Education Australia, Asia is home to nearly half the world's students. This number is predicted to rise from 17 million in 1995 to 87 million by 2020. Demand will be vast in the world's two most populous nations, China and India. By 2020, China will be unable to supply the 20 million university places required to meet the needs of its developing economy, and by 2015 India will struggle to supply a needed 9 million places. Demand will far exceed the capacity of the global education industry to provide enrolments. E-learning offers a quantum leap in economies of scale and increases access to learning opportunities by freeing teaching from geographical constraints. E-learning is also expected to boom if the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) virus forces students to study more at home. Alan Olsen, a consultant and researcher on international education based in Hong Kong, says: "Asia is seeing a massive and insuperable demand for higher education. It is beyond the ability of the world's universities to satisfy that need by physical campuses. Students are looking for first degrees that they cannot access any other way." Olsen says: "For the medium term, most e-learning will be supplied by developed countries to developing ones. But higher education in the West is now so ethnically diverse that you cannot get away with monocultural material. A lot of work is being done on internationalising the subject matter, and in the next ten years we will see Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong delivering it as well within the region." "There is a scenario where you have UK content being delivered online by Singaporean entrepreneurship that meets demand from China and later on from Indonesia and Pakistan. Then you'll really have globalisation." In contrast to India, where there is a desire to seek e-learning expertise from within, China knows the West will be required to provide its higher education. For now, China is focused on increasing space at its physical universities. In Hong Kong, however, there are a number of virtual institutions that are popular with postgraduates studying MBAs online. They allow people to continue to work Hong Kong's traditional long hours. "E-learning in Hong Kong is not mainstream yet, but neither is it the exception," Olsen says. "But Sars will be with us for a long time, and doing a course online means you can continue through an epidemic." Asian governments are acutely aware of e-learning's potential. The first Asia e-learning Network Conference was held in Tokyo last year under the auspices of Asean, the Southeast Asian economic association that comprises ten countries, with additional support from Japan and Korea. Governments, universities and e-learning providers drew up plans for an Asia-wide approach to the development of e-learning.
Long before e-learning was seen as a solution for the insatiable demand
for higher learning in Asia, PurpleTrain.com has already pioneered this
new frontier. Today PurpleTrain.com offers a wide range of e-learning
options ranging from professional training courses to diploma to degree
and even postgraduate degree courses. It partners leading universities
from US, UK and Australia to offer degree courses in business management,
information technology and engineering that are geared towards industry
needs. Students from all over the world are able to pursue their further
studies from anywhere, anytime with no limitations to enrolment. ABOUT PURPLETRAIN.COM By combining innovative technology with world-class training content, PurpleTrain.com offers companies and individuals a high value, quality and effective on-line training solution. Over 700 on-line courses are available, offering masters, degrees, diplomas and certificates in business and IT programs. Our online learning community now stands at over 67,000 users. PurpleTrain.com is a 100%-owned venture of Informatics Holdings Limited, a leading training and education provider listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. Informatics Holdings Limited is a world class institute for quality lifelong learning services and made the ranking among Forbes Global's 200 Best Small Companies in the world. ABOUT INFORMATICS GROUP The Informatics Group, established in 1983, is a multinational corporation providing lifelong learning services in information technology and business management. Through its international franchising program and strategic acquisitions, Informatics presently has a global network of more than 583 centres spanning more than 47 countries. The company presently offers the following products: Informatics Institute, Thames Business School, Informatics Professional Development Centre, CAL Learning Centre, Cambridge Child Development Centre, RACC, NCC licensing and PurpleTrain.com licensing. For more information, please visit http://www.informaticsgroup.com For more information, please contact : Boey Taik Boon All trademarks and registered trademarks are property of
their respective owners. Certain of the statements in this press release
are forward-looking in nature and, accordingly, are subject to risks and
uncertainties. The actual results may differ from those described or contemplated. |
Asia
is widely viewed as the world's emerging hot spot for higher education,
with demand for universities growing in direct proportion to rising living
standards. This growth brings challenges that analysts believe can be
met only by e-learning.
PurpleTrain.com
– the first e-learning provider in Asia