In the sphere of global education, Asia has been widely recognised as the top student with its solid grades and outstanding performance in almost every international assessment and ranking. On the other hand, the fellow emerging region of Latin America has been demonstrating huge potential for improvement but continues to struggle playing catch up.
This dynamic has played out in global assessments such as the PISA 2018 worldwide ranking, where seven out of the top 10 highest average scorers came from East Asia and Pacific while all the Latin American countries fell below the OECD average score, and in rankings such as the QS World University Rankings, where 25 of the top 100 universities come from Asia and only one comes from Latin America.
Quality education in Asia and Latin America prove to be on vastly different levels, and this is a reflection of the differing levels of technology incorporation into the sector and the vibrance of the edutech scene.
As Asia is moving full steam ahead with technological innovations in the sector, the region could benefit from looking outward and lending a hand to those who are falling behind so that they may also improve and scale in the process.
Latin America, on the other hand, could stand to take some notes and capitalise on its potential for improvement by embracing Asia’s tried and tested solutions for emerging markets. This is especially relevant in light of COVID-19, which has forced more than 1.4 billion students worldwide to stay home. For students and education systems to stay relevant and competitive in these times, it is thus essential to capitalise on the benefits of technology.
Also Read: How edutech startup Snapask is filling the gap for personalised learning in a post-COVID-19 world
The education gap: Asia vs Latin America
In examining the educational gap between the two regions, the drivers of Latin America’s relative underperformance do not present themselves prominently at first glance. Education in the developing regions of Asia and Latin America share many similarities.
Both regions present similar statistics in terms of primary and secondary enrolment (a difference of barely two per cent), and tertiary enrolment in Latin America is even higher than that of Asia (51.8 per cent compared to 45.8 per cent).
Both regions also allocate significant amounts of resources to education – Latin America spends over five per cent of their GDP on education, compared to 4.15 per cent in East Asia and Pacific. However, the vast difference in the performance of Asian schools and students relative to Latin America suggest that there are deeper underlying problems related to the quality of education.
In terms of educational content, teaching methods, and the incorporation of technology into the education sector, Asia comes out on top. The edutech space in the region is flourishing, with startups such as Ruangguru, Unacademy, and Topica Education Group receiving close to a combined total of US$250 million in funding across their Series C-D rounds.
In Asia, edutech is the second-largest market in the industry, with a potential to reach a valuation of US$5 trillion, and all 12 of the top edutech unicorns in 2019 were from Asia. In contrast, Latin America continues to lack the digital infrastructure, skills, and financing for wide scale tech adoption in the industry, and 74 per cent of the region even had to resort to the low-tech solution of delivering education via radio and television during the government-imposed lockdowns of COVID-19.
Ultimately, the quality of education is reflected in the ability to embrace and incorporate technology into the content and delivery, and Latin America is displaying a huge potential for Asian edutech solutions to scale.
Also Read: In brief: Indian edutech startup Teachmint raises US$3.5M seed funding round
Latin America: The next frontier for global edutech
Despite the region’s lacklustre performance in global assessments and rankings, Latin America displays a huge potential for transformative improvement and is prime to be the next frontier for global edutech. The region’s e-learning market is projected to value at US$3 billion by 2023, making it the fourth largest edutech market in the world.
In addition, more than 12 million adults in Latin America are participating in online education. Large segments of the region’s population are also underserved and struggle to gain access to basic educational services. UNICEF reports around 14 million children and adolescents in Latin America that remain outside of the education system.
This presents a wealth of untapped opportunities in the region’s education market for innovative edutech companies.
According to Stefan Krautwald, Managing Director of Colombia-based venture capital studio Latin Leap, “One of the biggest problems holding back Latin American society is the weak education infrastructure, and the edutech scene is not robust enough to overcome this gap. However, this presents many opportunities for Asian edutech solutions to establish themselves in the market and scale.”
Asia: The star student
In terms of global performance in education, Asia is a shining star. Apart from the region’s performance in the PISA assessment and QS World University Rankings, the top five performing countries of the TIMSS International Mathematics Achievement come from Asia as well.
Literacy rates in East and Southeast Asia are also one of the highest in the world, standing at close to 100 per cent. In terms of the edutech scene, Asia is also leading the way with the money to back it up. China and India comprise 70 per cent of global edutech venture capital, housing nine out of 10 global edutech unicorns. With such a dynamic scene, Asia has much to share and benefit from spreading their knowledge and scaling their solutions to other emerging regions.
Sharing notes and spreading knowledge
As Asia continues to rise up the ranks of global education and continually try to outdo itself, the region could benefit from lending a helping hand to those who are struggling. By engaging in knowledge sharing and spreading their educational solutions and technological know-how to other markets, Asia could learn from the process of cultural and business exchange to further improve on their solutions while capitalising on untapped opportunities to scale their edutech businesses. Latin America, in particular, proves to be an extremely suitable partner.
Also Read: How edutech startups can accelerate active learning
Latin America and Asia may appear to be unlikely partners at first glance, being vastly different regions separated by geography, language, and culture. However, both emerging markets actually share more similarities than meets the eye.
Both regions have similar population sizes of close to 650 million, rapidly growing internet penetration rates that are close to 70 per cent, and shared economic realities and cultural practices characteristic of emerging markets such as relatively low per capita income and a top-down approach in business procedures.
According to Francisco Rios, Regional Group Director for Latin America and the Caribbean at Enterprise Singapore, “Latin America with its high levels of mobile digital connectivity and nascent digital market, is an attractive region for Asian tech companies and start-ups. As the demand for improved access to quality education grows in the region, there are immense opportunities for Asian edtech companies to collaborate with in-market partners to co-develop innovative solutions to support remote learning. ”
Both regions have much to gain from deeper cooperation, particularly in the edutech space. Asia possesses the technological capabilities and knowledge that Latin America is ready to embrace, and Latin America presents itself as a huge untapped market with a young and knowledge-hungry population for Asian edtech solutions to take root in and grow. By sharing notes and spreading knowledge, both regions can mutually flourish and grow.
Soft-landing for edutech business expansion
When embarking on the path of expansion, businesses have to consider the host of risk factors and obstacles that come with entering distant and untapped markets. These include language barriers, cultural differences, unaccustomed local business practices, unpredictable regulatory and political environments, valuation challenges, and ever-changing tax regimes.
In understanding how to manage these risks, soft-landing proves itself as a viable business concept for Asian edutech scale-ups looking to enter Latin America. Soft-landing aims to support business expansion through a controlled launch in the new market with limited resources and connecting the company to a network of local stakeholders. The soft-landing process is best led by soft-landing facilitators, whose role is to help companies scale in far-flung and foreign markets.
Some of the benefits of soft-landing for edutech ventures include:
Cost reduction: When entering a new market, the cost of entry can be significant and many times it can exceed business budgets. According to the World Bank no Latin American economy ranks among the top 50 best places globally to do business, and this is in part due to high costs of entry that include paperwork, establishment fees, cultural barriers, and legal procedures among others. Therefore, having reliable information and the support of a local partner can help avoid cost overrun.
Cultural adaptation: The cultural and business practices in each market determine the way of doing business. Informality is one aspect of conducting business in Latin America that needs to be overcome. Language, communication peculiarities and specific local knowledge within each country are keys for a successful landing into a new ecosystem.
Time to market: The time it takes for each company to position itself within a new market will depend on the level of preparation it has and the knowledge of the entry barriers into the new market. The soft-landing facilitator has local resources that accelerate the operational, commercial and legal establishment, providing access to strategic information, decision- maker contact networks, and talent.
Deployment and reputation: Having a well-reputed local facilitator vouching for the new entrant in the education sector is crucial when it comes to accessing institutions, local businesses and potential customers. This is why having local professional teams becomes critical for business development and facilitates integration from the beginning.
Peer to peer exchange: Facilitating the direct discussion between edtech companies looking to expand to Latin America and potential local business and government partners is a crucial part of the soft-landing facilitator’s role.
–
Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas and earn a byline by submitting a post.
Join our e27 Telegram group, or like the e27 Facebook page
Image credit: August de Richelieu from Pexels
The post Paving the way for Asian edutech to soft-land in Latin America appeared first on e27.