In recent years, the world has changed substantially. These changes have affected education too.
COVID-19
- COVID-19 resulted in a massive growth in the need for online and distance education. For the first, some education providers had to offer distance education. Other providers had to improve the distance learning provision they were offering. Online education providers saw a massive growth in students wanting to study online.
- COVID-19 also led to massive changes in the technology required to offer distance learning to literally millions of people.
- COVID-19 has not gone away yet, but the world currently seems to be existing and adapting to this new threat. Children have gone back to school, teenagers and young adults have gone back to college and university, as have many adults. But many students have decided that they like distance learning and want to study that way!
Education Funding
COVID-19 is not the only thing that has affected education though. Many countries have also seen cuts to the education budgets to pay for state-provided and public education. For example –
- In the UK, a report by the PAC (Public Accounts Committee) found that cuts in education are resulting in some schools cutting parts of the curriculum and reducing services for students with special needs.
- Also, in the UK, The Institute for Fiscal Studies found a 14% cut in spending in colleges per student and a massive 49% per student in funding for adult education.
- In Chicago, education funding has been cut by 40%, which has led to a decline in adult enrolments, in particular amongst the Latino population. It has also led to reduced services, again, for special needs students.
Whilst in Australia, funding for universities has been cut by 10% this year and TAFE funding by 24%.
These funding cuts can affect the education offered to students in many different ways –
- Courses cancelled and cut
- Courses reduced
- Courses not offered to some students. For example, as we saw in Chicago, cuts were made to courses for adults.
- Reduction of specialist and niche courses
- Reduction of provision for certain groups, such as students with special needs or requirements
These cuts can substantially reduce the courses and education available to many people.
Public-Private Partnerships
These changes as a result of COVID-19 and cuts to educational funding have seen an increase in the number of public-private education partnerships. Public-run educational organisations have now looked to private education providers for other options.
Some examples –
- Many public training providers may not have had online training provision, so turned to private online education specialists during COVID-19 to increase the courses they offered and smooth the transition into online education.
- Some public providers need to increase their income and turn to private online providers to find ways to do this.
We have also seen a growth in the number of private education providers. Many, like ACS, have been around for years. ACS started in 1979. Other education providers have come along relatively recently in response to the growth in the online and private education market.
These private online providers are often able to function more quickly and efficiently than public providers –
- They are not dependent on state/public funding.
- They are not usually so bound up in bureaucracy, so are able to make changes, quickly and efficiently. For example, they can update their courses more quickly. A course needs changing, they do not have to go through lots of different committees to make that change. They can update and improve their courses quickly.
Private online education providers can, therefore, bring their knowledge, expertise and courses to –
- Public education institutions
- Other private education providers who want to move into online education
This move towards public-private provision is likely to increase following the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased need for online education.
Many Opportunities
As we have already mentioned, ACS Distance Education was established in 1979. We currently offer over 700 courses and are adding more all of the time.
If you are a public education provider or a private provider who wants to increase your online provision, why should you consider offering online education with ACS Distance Education?
- As we said – we have over 700 courses and we are adding more all of the time. We have a stable of expert tutors and writers who have substantial knowledge and experience in their industries and are happy to share that through developing a wide range of courses.
- Our courses are all offered via online or distance learning. There is no need for face-to-face tuition. So, education providers can offer our courses alongside their traditional, face-to-face provision, or as well as online courses that they currently offer.
- Our courses are updated regularly. As well as continually developing new courses, we also work hard to ensure that our courses are regularly updated to include new theories and ideas, new skills and technologies. We listen to our affiliates and our students. Our writers keep up to date in their topic areas. We work to make sure we offer up to date, high quality courses for students.
- Offering our courses can mean an increase in your income. You can use our courses for your existing students, but you can also sell our courses to other students. Within a physical educational setting, there will be a certain number of students. By selling online, your potential students are only limited by the number of people in the world who want to study. That means, literally millions, if not billions of potential students.
It's as Easy as A, B, C.
We aim to provide our educational partners with our courses in a simple and easy way.
If you would like to find out more about the courses offered and how this works, please get in touch.
Find out more about our Affiliate Program
Or if you have any questions our Affiliates Team are experts in helping providers to set up their own online school or department with ACS.