Online courses define professional education sector

RITIKA SHARMA / Emirates Business

The UAE, apart from being at the forefront of international level education, is also a mature market for online professional courses. At the pace with which the online education sector is growing in the region, experts predict that it will outpace the traditional training courses in coming years.
One of the major reasons for this sector to flourish is emergence and acceptance of a number of international online training firms in the region, experts affirm.
According to E-learning Market Trends and Forecast Report by Docebo, the worldwide market for self-paced e-learning is estimated to be growing at around 7.6 percent growth rate and revenues are expected at $51.5 billion by presently.
“Internet-based learning or e-learning as we call it, has both financial and access related benefits. For the firms offering such courses, they don’t have to spend much on their infrastructure. For students also, they are an easy means of learning especially when they are working,” Anna Jose, business development officer, Learning More, a Dubai-based private education consultancy told Emirates Business.
“UAE is leading the e-learning market especially in professional courses as the work environment here is highly competitive and to keep up-to-date with the latest, employees need to be trained continuously. Entrepreneurs, executives and managers understand this thoroughly and hence they keep searching for right courses online,” she pointed out.
She added, “Market analysis show that concept of e-learning is popular in UAE as many international firms recognise the demand in the country and keep updating their courses from time to time. This trend is here to stay and will soon be a major part of overall education ecosystem.”
The Docebo report states, “ While the aggregate growth rate of e-learning is 7.6 percent, several world regions appear to have significantly higher growth rates. According to
recent regional studies, the highest growth rate is in Asia at 17.3 percent, followed by Eastern Europe,
Africa, and Latin America at 16.9 percent, 15.2 percent, and 14.6 percent, respectively.”
The report also mentions that as Middle Eastern Governments are strongly committed to promoting a mass digitalisation process, regional e-learning market is growing rapidly and is expected to further flourish.