This session is part of the NSW Going Global India Program. The event titled ‘Driving learner outcomes through partnership between education and technology’ was recorded on 26 April 2022 and features a conversation between David Linke, Managing Director of EduGrowth and Ronnie Screwvala, Founder and Chair of upGrad.
Partnerships: the secret sauce of education, business, friendships, world peace. Partnerships are a meeting of minds, a collaboration, a community in the pursuit of a common goal. In the dynamic space of EdTech and in terms of global growth, partnerships are about the forging of connections with and enabling access to education, people and ideas.
And a bit of storytelling.
This is where Chairman and CoFounder Ronnie Screwvala of Indian EdTech unicorn upGrad comes in.
Ronnie’s journey not only makes a great story, but it epitomises what can happen when collaborative partnerships take flight. From Cable TV pioneer, tooth brush manufacturing and the author of two books, it was his work in media that awakened Ronnie’s awareness of and deep respect for research, the skill in identifying trends before they happened and the understanding of the impact that media and branding has on our lives.
The current chapter of upGrad is illustrated by its formidable and exciting partnership between American Ivy League stalwart UPenn among others, and Australia’s Deakin University. Further, with upGrad’s imminent acquisition of Global Study Partners (GSP), Ronnie knows a thing or two about partnerships, especially between education and technology.
The recent discussion between EduGrowth’s Managing Director David Linke and Ronnie Screwvala as part of Investment NSW’s Going Global India program illuminated a new understanding of
and how they are reshaping the ed-tech landscape. And being reshaped by it.
Partnership in LifeLong Learning
Partnerships are a meeting of minds collaborating to achieve a goal, and this is what underscored the formation of Upgrad 6 years ago when 10 founders pledged to become ‘an ongoing life-long learning partner for everyone after K-12’.
Why ‘after K-12’?
Ronnie views the K-12 period of education as ‘calendared’, or a scheduled event that takes place with a government set curriculum.
He understands that although a K-12 classroom can accommodate innovative pedagogy, why tinker?
The real disruption can come later.
It is the other fertile patch in the lives of learners from ages 18 and beyond that upGrad is concentrating on in its building of partnerships with education institutions to effect accessibility and offer choices for every life-long learning journey.
The Current Profile of Learners
It’s valid to pause here and do a quick scan of what learners look like in this digital age. This can help illustrate their learning needs and examine how those needs may be met through the partnership between education and technology.
The K-12 learner
Ronnie uses a story to illustrate how even small changes in this part of the education journey can change mindsets and drive significant learner outcomes. He recounts the provision of a library by an NFP in India that was supported by Ronnie which saw student attendance at the school increase by 20%.
‘A gradual change to make to make radical change’, Ronnie explains.
The College Learner
It is this 18 – 22-year-old bracket where the benefits of education partnering with technology is undergoing the most significant changes. From a landscape pot-holed by a lack of affordability and accessibility for many students, the higher education sector is now a landscape crisscrossed with accessible choices arising from partnerships with education institutes around the world.
Ronnie is on pointe when he declares this era one of a ‘uniformity of accessibility’.
And this is just the start.
It is clear that disruption in higher education is so hot right now.
Holistically the EdTech sector has ‘changed dynamically’, says Ronnie. And with the continual collaboration and building of further partnerships as heralded by NSW Investment’s Going Global initiative and evidenced by upGrad’s partnership with Deakin University and UPenn among others, the change is promising to increase choice even further while improving learner outcomes.
For upGrad, everything they do with regard to degrees is a total university partnership based on credibility, pedagogy and technology investment.
Clearly this stage is about college learners getting more ‘life ready’ as they merge into the next lane as working professionals.
The Working Professional
Ronnie identifies the learner at this stage as a key stakeholder in consumers of short courses and boot camps marked by augmented areas of specialisation that exist under a ‘global umbrella’. These learning experiences are enabled by the advancement of online learning through the removal of geographical barriers. The subsequent choices afforded in the learning of the working professional traverse a global learning landscape free of work permits, visas and other barriers.
The Life Long Learner
It’s the lifelong learner at the centre of upGrad’s focus. This period marks the deepening of a learning continuum enriched by choices and accessibility that eventuates as a result of global partnerships with education institutions. Ronnie describes this learning stage as ‘the next wave’, and he claims it is beholden on education institutions to respond accordingly and open up to it.
When we speak about learners at any stage we can circle back to elements at the bedrock of upGrad’s vision: accessibility, choice and affordability that can nourish a life- long learning culture starting at early childhood.
And that rumble in the distance? That’s the sound of education being reimagined for all learners in a digital world.
Speakers
Ronnie Screwvala
Ronnie is an EdTech entrepreneur, author and philanthropist.
He has been credited with starting Cable TV in India, he built one of the largest toothbrush manufacturing operations in India using PE funding which at the time was unheard of for startups, he started a failed TV home shopping business, then built UTV – a media and entertainment company that was divested to The Walt Disney Co in 2012.
Newsweek referred to him as the ‘Jack Warner of India’, Esquire rated him one of the 75 most influential people of the 21st century and Fortune as Asia’s 25 most powerful.
He has authored two books: “Dream with your eyes open” championing entrepreneurship, and “Skill it, Kill it” highlighting the invisible skills sought by global businesses, top recruiters and leading CEOs.
Ronnie is committed to making India a better place through a focus on two of the largest sunrise sectors – online education and the not-for-profit rural / social space.
In addition to being the Co-Founder and Chairman of upGrad, an Indian MOOC, he is Co-Founder of The Swades Foundation committed to empowering one million lives in rural India every 5-7 years through a 360 degree model spanning Water, Sanitation, Health, Education and Livelihood to lift them out of poverty permanently.
David Linke
David leads EduGrowth, Australia’s education technology and innovation industry hub. Through connection and collaboration EduGrowth is accelerating Australia’s EdTech ecosystem globally.
David has decades of experience across the education sector having led Asia Pacific operations of global listed EdTech companies whilst also founding and exiting EdTech businesses.
Today he is a strategic advocate, supporter and champion of the Australian EdTech sector at home and abroad.