Higher education is intrinsically susceptible to change. In most sectors, organisations are competitive, differentiating strategies, pursuing unique opportunities, innovating, all in an effort to outlast competitors and build resilience against risk. Universities, however, do similar things, deliver similar services, and serve similar groups. 

Universities are not built to compete. And it is a blessing that for a long time, perhaps they never needed to. But now, the landscape is competitive. There will be winners and losers. Which has pushed many to deeply consider survival and growth strategies.  And so many of those roads lead online.

Online programs can be a great solution—replication of best practices, scalability, focus on access, innovation, large markets, low barrier to entry, clear need, varied products. But the most common online markets and products are providing diminishing returns. 

That’s because online is, in many ways, mature. And in that maturity, a bifurcation: at one pole, at-scale programs from well-capitalized universities are using massive budgets to identify, recruit, and nurture students, absorbing and growing wherever they can; at the opposite, targeted programs from regional universities are building tall fences around their communities, offering highly relevant programs with local partners. 

A university strategising a move into online programs can’t compete against the former and often find the latter will not move the needle.

This is why each university, even those that have established programs, should be highly focused on delivering their online programs to pools of international learners. This strategy combines the best parts of online learning with the best market opportunities, all in a way that is mission-aligned and has consequential first-mover advantages.  

International markets are desperate for online education, specifically degrees. There are millions of learners, highly differentiated needs, and little competition. They are captured markets, unable or uninterested in going abroad, often with no awareness that online degree programs exist and with limited framework for how they can help them in their lives and careers. 

That is not to say there are no challenges—delivering to differentiated global pools of online learners requires commitment, focus, and outstanding local partners to ensure high-quality delivery, support, and technology. Because these are new markets, skepticism is high and it takes time to build trust.  And optimising prices, programs, and languages for each market makes the choice of where to enter important. 

Universities are not built to compete.  And it is a blessing that for a long time, perhaps they never needed to

But there is no solution to a university’s proximal challenges as massive, reliable, or relevant as enrolling international online learners. Each university should be building resilience by diversifying revenue streams and student pools by pursuing online learners around the world. 

Choosing a go-to-market strategy will look quite familiar to university leadership as the key markets for their on-ground enrolments remain key in online as well. But there are plusses and minuses to each that need to be considered when taking a first step:

India’s Market is Massive and Competitive

India is the largest and least complex online market to enter. It combines plenty of scale and opportunity with the English-language, relatively high brand awareness, and logical demand. With Indian universities delivering online programs, the market is familiar with the advantages and are always seeking more options. One added benefit—international tech stacks work well.

Still, tuition needs to be low and retention rates are a struggle. Competition amongst programs and low per capita GDP push total prices down and most channels operate in a B2C model so services can be inconsistent without high quality partners.

China’s Market is Massive but Newer

China is a much more inchoate university program market but has a strong foundation in online learning. There are nearly 200m monthly active users of online educational resources. And the novelty of online programs like degrees has created massive pools of candidates: for example, each year four million students apply to graduate degrees in the country but there is only space for ¼ of them. 

Tuition can be higher than the India market but not by much—programs are B2B in framework and employers will not put any money in. The biggest change is that programs need to be delivered in Mandarin, another lift that requires a good, experienced, trustworthy provider. 

Other Opportunities are More Targeted but Can Be a Good Fit

After the two massive opportunities in India and China, universities are pursuing more targeted programs around the world.  A crop of companies are growing in LATAM to try and deliver across varied geographies. Spanish is usually an easier lift for universities than Mandarin but the tuition needs to be extremely low and support can be scattered. 

International markets are desperate for online education, specifically degrees

Vietnam and Indonesia are both emerging from SEA as opportunities but there are few high quality partners to ensure top-to-bottom quality of delivery; still, those are English-language and open markets. Nigeria is becoming an anchor for companies in Africa delivering across the continent, similar to LATAM companies, but competition with in-continent universities makes it hard to expect consistent results. 

In general, it does not matter which opportunity a university selects. What matters is selecting one and moving quickly. Universities who develop resilience through these innovative, open markets will set a strong foundation of revenue diversification that will allow them to boost online and on-ground enrolments through the growth of brand, enrolment, and resources. 

And over the coming years, nothing will be as important.