Overview

E-learning is the fastest-growing sub-sector of a $2.3 trillion global education market, and the market for online higher education is estimated to exceed $69 billion by 2015.

One way to minimize your risk in marketing and selling courses and programs overseas is to understand the environmental factors in taking your programs to market in any selected countries. In our new report, we describe the political, economic, education, and technology environment in 42 countries on three continents – Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Our goal is to provide a critical assessment of each market, helping readers to identify those markets that best align with the institution’s internal goals and capacity to serve the market’s demand.

Each country study includes:

• Demographic Trends

  Including population, educational attainment, literacy, & poverty; which provide a long term view of the higher education market in the country

• Economic situation and trends

  Including GDP and growth, unemployment, GDP per capita, as well as trade relationship with the U.S., size of trade and barriers to trade.

• Technological Capacity

  Internet users, hosts, broadband availability, computer availability, technology investment and policy, and the digital divide;all of which are factors in readiness to receive e-learning from the U.S.

• Education System

  A detailed description from primary through higher education, including enrollment levels, financing, private sector presence, admissions process, and types of degrees.

• E-learning policy and presence
• Other Considerations

  Other cultural or political considerations that might have an impact on education delivery.

  Including the presence of foreign institutions and policies affecting their presence as well as the value and usefulness of foreign degrees, of e-learning delivered degrees and credits. DL and e-learning credits/degrees. Also included are the number of students who study abroad and the number of foreign students who study locally.

• Analysis of Opportunity

  An analysis of the potential opportunities and risks of offering e-learning to students within the country. We rank the relative opportunities based on a number of variables.

Hezel Associates’ Index of E-Learning Market Opportunity ranks South Korea, Japan, and Germany as the top three markets closely followed by the UK and China. The index measures, the relative openness and ease or difficulty of marketing postsecondary programs to the 42 countries analyzed in the report. While there certainly is a difference in the potential opportunity between the top ranked country and the twentieth ranked country, the real differences lay in the complexities and challenges that each country presents an institution that wishes to enter its market -- much of which is discussed within the report.

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How to Use and Read This Report

For any institution or organization that is thinking about expanding overseas, The Global E-learning Opportunity for U.S. Higher Education can satisfy the critical first step of gaining a thorough understanding of the demographic, economic, technological and educational environment in potential markets. Due to the length and depth of the report we do not believe that it makes sense for most readers to simply read it cover to cover. Rather, we advise that the report and the Hezel Associates’ Index of E-Learning Market Opportunity be used as tools for informed decision-making.

While the report satisfies the first of several phases in a multi-step process, it can get your institution pointed in the right direction by helping to identify which countries present the best markets for expansion.

To help guide you in your market expansion, Hezel Associates has produced Developing a Global E-Learning Program: From Conceptualization to Implementation, written by Richard T. Hezel, Ph.D.
Josh Mitchell, M.P.A.
View: PDF [4.75 MB]

What readers are saying

"I received a copy of the report – very impressive. Your firm continually produces outstanding resources for schools."
Richard Boorom
Regis University

“Hezel Associates’ report does a valuable job of pulling together a mass of disparate information across numerous countries.”
The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education

"I sincerely commend you [Hezel Associates] on a tremendous piece of research. You made my life a lot easier! The report is an invaluable resource in our assessment of the global e-learning market."
Mark Resner
eCollege