Chance for universities to tap into billion-dollar short course market

According to OpenLearning, universities have the chance to grab a larger share of the billion-dollar short course market.

Adam Brimo, chief executive and founder of OpenLearning, a start-up that offers a platform for e-learning. Picture: Britta Campion

Universities have the chance to grab a larger share of the billion-dollar non-accredited short course market in Australia, ­according to OpenLearning, the Sydney-based online education platform provider.

OpenLearning chief executive Adam Brimo said although the non-formal education market in Australia was very large — estimated to be worth between $2 billion and $4bn a year — he believed universities had less than $250 million a year of this revenue. Other education providers such as professional associations, private colleges or providers of continuing professional development own the rest.

However, with the universities’ lucrative business in masters by coursework degrees no longer growing, Mr Brimo said he thought universities were shifting their focus. “Universities now see the opportunity and they are starting to go after it,” he said.

“They’ve seen the success of short courses, particularly that MOOC (massive open online learning) platforms overseas are starting to charge for courses that were originally free, and that’s starting to generate revenue.

“I think there’s a huge opportunity for universities in Australia to leverage their brands for short courses.”

Mr Brimo said short courses were a good fit for people already in their careers who needed to upgrade their qualifications, or learn new ones, as the nature of work changed.

He said OpenLearning’s online learning platform was designed for short courses, including offering a portfolio building feature for students to create a body of work to demonstrate their skills to an employer.

“Instead of saying ‘I did a short course and here’s my certificate’, I can say ‘I did a short course and here’s my portfolio’,” he said.

“Employers have a better sense of what you actually learnt.”

He said OpenLearning was working with eight Australian universities — including UNSW, Melbourne, Charles Sturt, UTS and Macquarie — and the OpenLearning platform was designed to reach learners not enrolled in formal university courses.

“People go online, sign up with their credit card and start learning immediately.

“It’s an experience which is more similar to using other apps or websites,” he said.

Mr Brimo, a UNSW graduate, started OpenLearning in 2012 with UNSW computing science professor Richard Buckland and former UNSW research student and tutor David Collien.

It has had major success in ­Malaysia where it works with more than 30 universities.