EducationInvestor March issue

EducationInvestor Global March 2020 vol 12 • no 2

EducationInvestor Global March 2020 vol 12 • no 2

essential reading for education companies worldwide

An educational epidemic Will online providers pass coronavirus stress-test?

Two for one

Setting the tone

Private matters

UK’s fastest-growing education firm makes tandem leadership work

How music shaped the management style of Bright Horizons’ new MD

Delegates descend on this publication’s ninth private equity conference

infrastructure

• ICT • outsourcing • academies • schools • colleges • nurseries • universities • policy

NT E EV to tors W e ra NE Fre ope ry se r nu

ACCELERATING BUSINESS GROWTH IN EARLY YEARS 01 April 2020 Jurys Inn Hinckley Island, Leicestershire Aimed at early years operators who are looking to accelerate their business growth, this event will bring together experts from private equity, strategy consultancy, real estate and the legal world to share their knowledge in how organisations can scale for success.

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UP FRONT MANAGING DIRECTOR Vernon Baxter – +44 (0) 20 7104 2001 vernon.baxter@investorpublishing.co.uk EDITOR Josh O’Neill – +44 (0) 20 7451 7069 josh.o’neill@investorpublishing.co.uk DEPUTY EDITOR Simone Rensch – +44 (0) 20 7451 7061 simone.rensch@investorpublishing.co.uk REPORTER AND SUBEDITOR Charles Wheeldon – +44 (0) 20 3762 2556 charles.wheeldon@investorpublishing.co.uk HEAD OF SALES Michael Dee – +44 (0) 20 7104 2006 michael.dee@investorpublishing.co.uk SALES MANAGER Carlo Menezes – +44 (0) 20 7104 2002 carlo.menezes@investorpublishing.co.uk SALES MANAGER Grace Mackintosh – +44 (0) 20 7451 7067 grace.mackintosh@investorpublishing.co.uk DELEGATE SALES & ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE Sohail Iqbal – +44 (0) 33 0052 6190 sohail.iqbal@investorpublishing.co.uk DELEGATE SALES & ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE Shakil Ahmed – +44 (0) 20 7104 2005 shakil.ahmed@investorpublishing.co.uk SENIOR EVENTS MANAGER Nicola Jones – +44 (0) 20 3746 2613 nicola.jones@investorpublishing.co.uk PRODUCTION MANAGER Jeremy Harvey – +44 (0) 20 7451 7053 jeremy.harvey@investorpublishing.co.uk DESIGN & PRODUCTION EXECUTIVE Craig Williams – +44 (0) 20 3762 2254 craig.williams@investorpublishing.co.uk PUBLISHER Harry Hyman FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EduInvestor

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EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Stress-test Education organisations across the world are reeling under pressure from the outbreak of a new coronavirus. Will they all overcome this black swan?

T

rying to keep up with the novel coronavirus and its casualties feels like running a 100-metre sprint alongside Usain Bolt.

When gathering research for this month’s special report (pages 18-25), I struggled to comprehend the rapid pace at which the COVID-19 outbreak is reshaping our sector and other industries. At least once an hour, my phone buzzes, notifying me of the latest fatality, business victim, or country that’s discovered its first case.

With a viable route to a vaccine not yet in sight, I concluded that the situation would get worse before it improves. Unfortunately, I was right.

During the run-up to our press day, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ordered all of the country’s schools to close for at least a month, sending home some 13 million students at a time when wider concerns are stirring around a potential recession. Hong Kong extended school and kindergarten closures to 20 April, by which point students will have been out of school for more than three months. (Three months!) Here in the UK, three schools closed their doors after students returned from a skiing trip in Bormio, a coronavirus-inflicted town in northern Italy.

Global stock markets saw their worst performance since the financial tsunami of 2008; the Dow Jones index recorded its biggest loss in history.

England’s central bank warned of a coronavirusinduced economic downgrade. All of this occurred within five days.

You can imagine the headaches of working parents in affected areas. Hong Kong is a business hub. Many of the territory’s international schools’ clients make up the upper echelons of professional services sectors, such as law and finance, whose employees work round-the-clock hours. Picture an irate tiger mom moderating a conference call while spoon-feeding a toddler and wrangling with an unruly teenager who’s more interested in his PlayStation than online assignments – and paying upwards of £15,000 a year for the privilege. Now picture said parent’s frustration. No wonder she wants her money back.

In the special report, I focus chiefly on the operational and financial repercussions.

For businesses in a sector renowned for its unrelenting resilience and clear revenue visibility, this black swan is, among other things, a stark reminder of just how quickly the latter can turn translucent.

Consider now some potential educational implications.

Missing 10% of the school year has been proven, by several studies, to significantly hinder academic proficiency. One piece of research points out how missing 15 or more days of the school year can impact chances of succeeding in college. In the Rhode Island study, only 11% of high school students who had missed chunks of the school year made it into college, compared to 51% of those who didn’t miss class. Granted, online solutions have sprung up to bridge the gap carved out by the coronavirus. But a jury of teachers has delivered a doubtful verdict on their efficacy.

There will be winners. Logic would suggest a boon for online providers, which should see a perverse opportunity to win business – providing they’re comfortable with profiting from a crisis that, as we go to print, is on the cusp of being declared a pandemic.

And there will be losers. SARS, another coronavirus, stress-tested education firms when it ripped across the world in 2003. Many didn’t survive the shock.

COVID-19’s current fatality rate of 1% – which means 10 in 1,000 infected with the virus die – is pretty sobering. It’s entirely feasible that contaminated parts of the global education sector will see a mortality rate which mirrors this. At the very least, some organisations will be maimed. n

Josh O’Neill, Editor, EducationInvestor Global

3

November/December 2019 Volume 18 Number 6

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EducationInvestor Global

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CONTENTS

news US: Busy Bees expands stateside

6

US: Cadence Education hits the right note for Apax

7

UK: Work complete on new music institute

8

US: K12 diversifies into coding with $165m deal

11

UK: Study Group buys platform 12 developed by Imperial College London

Middle East & Africa

Bright Horizons

30

US: Hyland takes over blockchain credentialing start-up

13

Europe

US: Tax software group acquires seminar company

15

News in brief

17

Setting the tone 30 Ros Marshall joined childcare operator Bright Horizons as UK managing director this year. She tells Simone Rensch how music influenced her leadership style, and why a bout of chickenpox caused her to shift career paths Private matters 34 Simone Rensch presents the best bits of this year’s Private Equity in Education conference

global Death, disruption and 18 the student supply strain The novel coronavirus has infected the global education sector. In this special report, Josh O’Neill offers a thorough assessment of the wideranging symptoms and shares strategic prescriptions that could help alleviate operational and financial pains

Corporate classrooms 38 Professional learning platforms have transcended mandatory compliance training and entered a new realm in which large corporations are giving them millions of pounds to upskill staff. CIL Management Consultants takes a look at this burgeoning corner of the global education market

10 minutes with...

40 Reigate Grammar School Reigate Grammar School has set up shop in Casablanca on the back of an agreement between the UK and Moroccan governments that makes it easier for British education institutions to launch in the North African country.

Headmaster Shaun Fenton shares his school’s expansion plans Kingdom of hope 44 Educators’ eyes are focusing on opportunities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, says Pam Mundy, Business Women in Education founding member and an independent educational consultant. In this contribution, she offers a street-level view of the controversial market, hitting back at consensus that it is not welcoming to Western women

finance Deals The month’s latest transactions

46

Results The month’s company announcements

52

executive moves Executive moves

Double act 26 Josh O’Neill breaks bread with Harry Hortyn and Robert Phipps, co-founders of Oxford Summer Courses, the UK’s fastestgrowing education organisation, who argue that two heads are better than one when it comes to running their business

rounding off Companies index

Private Equity

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

58

62

34

5

NEWS

Early years

US: Busy Bees expands stateside

UK: New owner for Park Lane Kids

UK-based nursery group Busy Bees has acquired EduKids, an early childhood education and day care operation with 15 locations in Western New York state, The Buffalo News has reported.

The West Seneca-based firm has operated for 30 years and the newspaper reported that there are no plans to change the staff or

Dan Slipper, the owner of Alpha Kindergarten in Peterborough and a corporate buyer, has purchased Park Lane Kids in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, a group of two children’s day nurseries: Park Lane Nursery and Woodlands Nursery (pictured).

Park Lane Nursery has operated since 2008 and has capacity for more than 30 children from newborn to five years of age.

Woodlands Nursery was established in 2012 and has capacity for more than 110 children aged

the company’s name. EduKids’ founder and president Nancy Ware has said that she’s staying in place in the near-term, though her role and title have not yet been defined.

EduKids employs 450 teachers and aides and caters to around 2,000 families throughout the region.

UK’s largest nursery operator acquires setting in Kent Busy Bees, the UK’s largest nursery operator, has acquired Sevenoaksbased Squiggles Childcare, boosting its UK and Ireland portfolio to 379 sites.

The sale of Squiggles (pictured), a family-run nursery which provides early years care to children up to the age of five, was brokered by Redwoods Dowling Kerr.

Following the acquisition, Busy Bees now cares for more than 35,000 children across its 379 nurseries in the UK and Ireland.

It also has sites in Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, Italy, America, Vietnam and Australia, with a total of 50,000 children across more

6

than 500 sites globally.

Busy Bees’ Europe chief executive, Cheryl Creaser, said: “The love and attention [the owners] have put into the setting is clear to see. The team provide exceptional care day-in-dayout and their mission to provide children with a calm, safe and happy environment perfectly aligns with our own.

“It’s our pleasure to welcome Squiggles parents, children and staff to the Busy Bees family.

Working together, we believe that our combined insight and expertise will help us to build on the team’s success.”

from three months to five years.

Vendor Samantha Faulkner stated that she had achieved everything that she desired to within the childcare sector and reached the conclusion that it is now time to focus on exploring new opportunities in different sectors.

She also believes the nurseries would greatly benefit from a new owner to introduce new ideas and a new approach.

The sale was facilitated by commercial real estate firm Redwoods Dowling Kerr.

UK: Storal Learning purchases Wiltshire nursery Nursery operator Storal Learning has acquired Barney Lodge Day Nursery in Warminster, Wiltshire, a modernised detached building with garden, which has capacity for about 70 children.

Vendor Lynn Ashton chose to run the business under management and made the decision to sell in order to retire from the industry.

Storal Learning now has a portfolio of 15 childcare settings located across the country. Varun Chanrai of Storal Learning said: “Barney Lodge is a fantastic nursery with a wonderful team, providing outstanding childcare. It is already proving to be a great addition to the Storal family.”

Specialist business property advisor Christie & Co handled the sale.

Nick Brown, regional director and head of childcare brokerage at Christie & Co said: “The sale of Barney Lodge Day Nursery and a number of similar transactions completed during January showcase the strong ongoing demand across the country for high-quality single asset sites. If you would like to discuss your exit strategy or perhaps you are looking to expand and want to be added to our nationwide database of active buyers then we would be delighted to hear from you.”

Barcan Kirby provided legal advice.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

NEWS

Early years

US: Cadence Education hits the right note for Apax Apax Partners has agreed to acquire Cadence Education, a provider of early childhood education in North America, from Morgan Stanley Capital Partners in a deal expected to complete next month.

Cadence Education operates 225 private pre-schools through a network of more than 40 brands, including its flagship Cadence Academy brand, and caters to

children aged six weeks to 12 years.

Cadence Education president and chief executive Dave Goldberg said: “We are very excited about our new partnership with Apax, which will help drive our continued growth and bring our mission of providing an exceptional education in a fun and nurturing environment to even more children.”

Nick Hartman, partner at Apax Partners, added: “We look forward to working with Dave and the Cadence Education team to continue to execute the strategy that has established the company as a leader in the early childhood education space. Cadence Education’s focus on children and parents delivers industry-leading customer satisfaction which, in combination with a highly-skilled

team, positions the company for continued growth.”

Debevoise & Plimpton was legal advisor, and William Blair and Lazard Middle Market were financial advisors to Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was legal advisor to Apax Partners.

Cadence Education is headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona.

K12

First British independent school sets up in Morocco Surrey-based Reigate Grammar School is launching an offshoot in Casablanca, making it the first UK independent school to set up shop in Morocco.

Reigate Grammar School’s first partner school in Casablanca is already open and will expand to accommodate 1,300 pupils, while two schools are due to open in Tangiers and Rabat.

The independent school already has partnerships with other schools around the world, including a multi-school deal in China.

The Moroccan schools will offer British curriculums, with IGCSEs

and A-levels, from kindergarten level through to sixth form.

Headteacher Shaun Fenton said the relationship will help the school’s pupils in the UK to form “bridges of understanding” with other cultures.

As reported by this publication last year, Morocco is opening its doors to British schools as the country aspires to make English a more important aspect of its schooling, which has traditionally been more French-leaning.

An agreement between the two countries’ governments was struck last year, streamlining the process of setting up a school in Morocco and opening up the possibility of a promising new market for British education institutions.

UK: Chinese investors snap up Cambridgeshire grammar school Access (UK) Education has bought Wisbech Grammar School in Cambridgeshire, the Wisbech Standard has reported.

Brighton-based Access is run by Chinese nationals who have been based in the UK for the past 15 to 20 years. The company states on its website that it is an education development company that works in partnership with a number of education institutions to provide international student recruiting and guardianship services and marketing

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

development opportunities.

Wisbech Grammar’s headmaster Chris Staley said that the school – but not the buildings – have been taken on by Access Education.

Access aims to make Wisbech Grammar its flagship UK entity.

Staley added that the acquisition will provide the seeds for the expansion of the school’s brand into China.

Under the terms of the agreement, a new charity under a board of trustees will oversee the freehold

of the school and its associated buildings and land. Access has set up a limited company to run the school with the agreement that any profit or surplus is invested back and will be used to increase bursaries and upgrade the school’s facilities.

Staley said: “It has been a rollercoaster ride, but we are phenomenally excited for the future and it will be good for Wisbech,” adding that the school has been under financial pressure traceable

to Tony Blair’s Labour government decision to axe the assisted places scheme in 1997.

After 1997, Stanley added, the number of pupils at the school dropped from a peak of 750 to a low point of 500. Today it caters for 580, including 20 Chinese students who have become the school’s first boarders. Access plans to increase that number to a maximum of 50 or 60 and the school is looking to build or rent additional accommodation nearby.

7

NEWS

K12

UK: Dukes Education absorbs London-based schools group Dukes Education, a UK-based operator of premium private schools, has acquired House Schools Group, a cluster of three independent schools in London.

Prospect House School in Putney, Orchard House School in Chiswick, and Bassett House School in Kensignton have joined Dukes, lifting its total number of sites, which include schools and nurseries, to 36.

The schools are all co-educational and cater to students aged three to 11.

Dukes’ founder and chairman, Aatif Hassan (pictured), commented: “I am delighted to welcome these prestigious and high-quality schools to our family. The union provides the schools with continued governance and educational support, and long-term stability.”

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The deal is the latest link in a chain of acquisitions by Dukes carried out over the past 12 months.

Top Scottish public school to open in China Gordonstoun, the famously austere Scottish public school much loved by Prince Philip and equally loathed by Charles, is to open a new school in China.

The school was founded in 1934

by Kurt Hahn and in addition to educational excellence had an emphasis on outdoor activities and skills such as seamanship and mountaineering.

The Duke of Edinburgh was one of the school’s earliest pupils, and he was followed by Prince Charles in the sixties and both of Princess Anne’s children in the eighties.

To facilitate the China project, the school is working in partnership with BBD Education, the management consultancy based in the UK and the United Arab Emirates.

Professor Ralph Tabberer, founder and owner of BBD Education, said: “Gordonstoun School is one of the top schools in the world with a unique and exceptional record in all-round education, based on its founder Kurt Hahn’s principles of service and challenge.”

In the second half of last year, Dukes acquired five London settings: Heathside School; Bright Beginnings; Broomfield House; Hopes & Dreams Montessori; and Radnor House Twickenham.

Gordonstoun, Scotland

Higher education

UK: Work complete on new music institute Work has been completed on a £9.5 million project to create a new music institute called Resonance in Brierley Hill, West Midlands, which will offer degrees for students seeking a career in a range of music industries and will teach everything from popular music performance, production, composition and business.

The building has been completed by fit-out and refurbishment firm Overbury and includes classrooms, lecture theatres, recording studios, practise rooms and a radio station, transforming the former office building, which has lain empty for eight years.

8

David Barnard, co-director at Resonance, said: “The priority is to immerse students into a real-world environment working on project briefs designed in partnership with industry colleagues. People say the music ‘industry’, but really it’s music ‘industries’ as there are so many avenues and opportunities for students to explore.

“For every star on stage, there’s an army of people behind the scenes, be they session musicians, songwriters, producers, sound engineers, stage managers, PR agents and more. Our programme will blend musical, technical and

practical skills with personal and professional development, entrepreneurship and enterprise.

Our objective is to create workready graduates, who are not frightened to explore new ideas and have a go. The Resonance professional diploma, running alongside our degree courses, will provide an enriching experience developing the essential soft skills needed for an ever-changing global industry.”

Applications are being accepted for courses beginning in September. Fees are £9,250 a year.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

NEWS

Higher education

Coventry University moves into Poland and Morocco The UK’s Coventry University is moving rapidly into foreign markets with a brace of overseas initiatives.

The institution has moved a step closer to becoming the first foreign university in Poland by signing a lease agreement for a new branch campus in Wrocław, western Poland.

The new campus occupies two floors in the Centrum Południe complex being developed by Skanska, which combines office, service and recreational functions.

More than a dozen bus and tram stops service the campus, and there’s also a wide range of banks, pharmacies, cafes, restaurants and other services nearby.

Work to fit out the campus building with facilities for students started last month and will be completed at the end of June, with testing and commissioning of the building scheduled to take place in the summer.

The branch campus will welcome its first students in September, and will offer UK degrees taught in English. Initially, it will offer undergraduate programmes in digital technology, business management and cybersecurity, while a fourth course – aviation management – is in development.

In the first year of operation, the branch campus plans to recruit approximately 160 students with ambitions to increase student numbers and the course portfolio in the future.

John Dishman, pro-vicechancellor and chief executive of CU Group, Coventry University, said: “The location is perfect for us. The quality of the buildings is superb and enables us to offer high-quality education, in modern purpose-built accommodation.”

Real estate firm Knight Frank provided support for the deal.

Coventry University is also partnering with a Moroccan higher education institution to provide teacher training and business, science and technology programmes at a new campus in Casablanca.

Morocco’s Superior Institution of Science & Technology (SIST), a higher education institution operating in English, will invest £14 million to develop a purpose-built campus in the Moroccan city to host the programmes.

John Latham, vice-chancellor of Coventry University, said the university is the first UK institution to sign an agreement to set up a campus in Morocco.

He said: “Our partnership with SIST will give us our first strong relationship with a Moroccan institution, particularly around

The Centrum Południe complex

science and technology and teacher training.

“We’re also looking at partnerships in nurse training and nurse education and exploring links around research, especially water security and food security.

“We see Morocco as a gateway to Africa and a country where higher education in the UK overall could have more and further collaborations.”

The memorandum of understanding, signed on 22 January, will enable joint research, teaching and mobility between the UK and Moroccan institutions.

The agreement was signed during a reception at the inaugural meeting of the UK-Morocco Higher Education Mission, which sets out to boost the collaboration between the two countries.

SIST delivers programmes from Cardiff Metropolitan University and is the only school in Morocco offering full, internationally accredited British degrees in addition to Moroccan degrees.

As reported by this publication last year, Morocco is opening its doors to British schools as the country aspires to make English a more important aspect of its schooling, which has traditionally been more French-leaning.

An agreement between the two countries’ governments was struck last year, streamlining the process of setting up a school in Morocco and opening up the possibility of a promising new market for British education institutions.

South Africa: Workforce Holdings to acquire Johannesburg business school Johannesburg-based investment holding company Workforce Holdings is acquiring Chartall Business College in Johannesburg for 34.88 million rand (£1.8 million), IOL has reported.

Established in 2012, Chartall

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Business College provides education and training, mainly servicing the corporate market, with a focus on the financial services industry.

Workforce stated: “Through the acquisition, Workforce’s training cluster gains exposure to the

financial services market and is also able to offer its existing clients training qualifications that meet their requirements for bursary spend in terms of the latest broad-based black economic empowerment codes.”

Workforce added that Chartall

Business College has differentiated itself by using online platforms to deliver its training and by having a specialist focus on recognition of prior learning – and to this end it has developed proprietary intellectual property.

9

NEWS

Higher education

US: Strayer University opens new campus in Tallahassee Strayer University has opened a new campus in Tallahassee, Florida, its ninth in the state, and will provide programmes that offer working adults flexible and affordable higher education options.

Spring classes will begin in April.

Strayer stated that the campus’s hybrid model will provide students with the space and opportunity to work with Strayer’s student services

coaches, meet one-on-one with faculty and staff, take on-ground courses, and network with peers.

Dr Michael Plater, president emeritus of Strayer University, said: “The new campus in Tallahassee will offer our students the best of online education and in-person support. Students can now access programmes specifically designed to ensure their success in the workforce

UK: London management school opens second campus The London School of Management Education (LSME), a higher education provider of teacher training, business management and health and social care, has opened an additional campus in Gants Hill in East London, with the support of a six-figure financial package from HSBC UK. LSME says the new campus has classrooms, recreational facilities, and improved IT infrastructure.

LSME adds that the new facility will enable it to accommodate a greater number of students from underrepresented parts of the community, supporting the government’s agenda for the eradication of educational barriers.

The expansion has also created six new jobs LSME executive director Dr Ravi Kumar said: “Our expansion will

also put us on the right path to reaching our future objectives for higher student engagement with employers through our community outreach programmes.”

Jeff Richards, HSBC UK’s regional director for business banking in North London, added: “LSME is a long-standing customer. We have watched the school grow from a small institution into the highly regarded education provider it is today. This new campus is testament to the popularity of LSME’s courses and teaching practices and we are in no doubt that the team will achieve their ambition in attracting more students from a variety of backgrounds and communities.”

HSBC UK stated that the deal was part of its £14 billion lending fund to support SMEs in the UK.

Gants Hill opening

10

following graduation, including resume building workshops and financial planning.”

While nearly 95% of Strayer students take some or all classes online, the university found its students who live near a campus tend to complete their courses and continue into their next terms at higher rates than students who don’t live near a campus.

Over the past two years, Strayer University has launched hybrid campuses across 11 states. It has more than 75 campuses and enrols more than 50,000 students nationwide. It offers associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees, with a range of courses including criminal justice, business administration, education, and information technology.

Singapore: New location on the menu for Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne

Swiss hospitality and leisure management university Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) has secured the location of its future Singapore campus after getting the green light from the citystate’s authorities.

EHL has been authorised to deliver its bachelor in international hospitality management and will receive its first cohort in the autumn next year. In the meantime, the EHL says it plans to deliver short courses on site from as early as July.

Once a boarding school for the children of British soldiers, the former Kinloss House has been restored to its former classic beauty. It is a 2,400 square meter building set in 1.9 hectares of

land that was last used as an executive training centre by a major global company. The property houses classrooms, meeting rooms, a large multipurpose hall and numerous break out spaces.

EHL group chief executive Michel Rochat said: “We very much look forward to expanding our connection to the local community and participate in this thriving environment. It is with enthusiasm and conviction that we embark on this new adventure.

Our commitment to the local economy will start here and extend throughout the country, as we hope to strengthen our existing ties to the Singaporean hospitality industry.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

NEWS

Higher education

US: Arkansas State and Adtalem discuss partnership for vet school Arkansas State University and Adtalem Global Education are collaborating to explore the feasibility of creating Arkansas’s first in-state veterinary medical school via a public-private partnership.

Adtalem is a global workforce solutions provider based in Chicago with expertise educating veterinarians to AVMA-accredited standards.

The university’s chancellor Kelly Damphousse said: “The demand for veterinarians is significant as more households enjoy pet ownership, and Arkansas livestock producers have acknowledged a shortage of veterinarians for large animals.

This is a concern that our College of Agriculture faculty and others across the region have expressed

to us. I am excited to begin the discussion on our campus. We plan to work closely with veterinarians throughout Arkansas as we move forward in the development of this new college.”

Professor of animal science and interim dean of the College of Agriculture, Dr Donald ‘Bud’ Kennedy, added: “From practical

experience, we know the need exists for more veterinarians, especially large animal practitioners, across our region and state. With the current resources that Arkansas State can bring to this process, we believe we can have a tremendous positive impact for the veterinarian profession and our agricultural industry.”

Vocational and training skills

US: K12 diversifies into coding with $165m deal Online education company K12 has acquired coding bootcamp Galvanize for $165 million, expanding its offering beyond high school.

Galvanize, which operates eight campuses across the US and has educated more than 8,000 students, will enable K12 to move into

adult learning. The company has traditionally focused on educational programmes from elementary through K12.

K12 chief executive, Nate Davis, said: “This acquisition expands our vision for career education to go beyond high school by developing talent and capabilities for learners

of all ages and backgrounds.

“Whether someone is discovering career options, trying to switch fields, honing their job skills, or learning new skills in pursuit of a new opportunity, we want to help ensure all learners have an equal shot at a rewarding career.”

K12, a publicly traded company

that sells online education curricula and tools, reported $1.01 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year.

The transaction follows a number of big-ticket deals in the ed tech space last year. In December, private equity firm Thoma Bravo bought ed tech company Instructure for $2 billion.

US: Colibri Group invests in education provider

US: Busuu acquires live video tutoring company

Colibri Group, an education company that provides online learning to licensed professionals, has invested in Hondros Education Group, a provider of professional education.

Linda Hondros, chief executive of Hondros Education Group, said: “We are excited about two exceptional companies joining forces to become the dominant educator for licensed professionals.”

With this investment, Colibri Group is expanding licensing and professional education both nationally and locally in real estate, mortgage and appraisal, with real estate schools and colleges in Ohio and Arizona, as well as an expanded national online offering.

Tina Lapp, president of Hondros

Busuu, a London-based languagelearning platform, has acquired Verbling, a San Francisco, California-headquartered live video tutoring company, for a doubledigit million amount, Finsmes has reported.

Busuu stated that it will provide live video tutoring to its consumer users and corporate clients.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Education Group, said: “We have always focused on expansion through meaningful partnerships, and becoming a part of Colibri Group brings forward the best of both companies to deliver a stronger education offering for our customers and partners.

Through combined resources we can continue to invest in best-inclass products, and our customers and partners will now have access to more products, courses and resources. By strategically joining forces, we are better positioned to deliver outstanding quality and service to our customers.”

Colibri Group is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island and is backed by Gridiron Capital.

Hondros Education Group is based in Westerville, Ohio.

Verbling’s co-founders chief executive Mikael Bernstein and chief technology officer Gustav Rydstedt are joining Busuu, along with the rest of the Verbling staff. Busuu is also opening a new office in Madrid, where the company was founded in 2008 before moving its headquarters to London in 2012.

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NEWS

Vocational and training skills

Canada: EC English Language Centres opens Vancouver language school EC English Language Centres has opened Vancouver 30+.

EC launched its first 30+ English school in 2013, trialling the concept in London and later that same year in Malta. In 2016, two more EC 30+ schools opened in New York and Toronto and then expanded to Dublin in 2018. Vancouver brings the total to six 30+ schools in five countries.

EC’s chief executive Andrew Mangion, said: “The opening of EC

Vancouver 30+ is a great achievement for all of us at EC, allowing us to bring our wonderful 30+ experience to this

remarkable city. We are so proud of this accomplishment and it is thanks to the dedication of our teachers,

staff and partners and, of course, our students, that makes this possible. At EC, we believe that our people are our strength and our growth in recent years is testament to that. The people at the helm in EC Vancouver 30+ are full of enthusiasm and drive for this school so we know that the students here are in strong, capable hands. We look forward to many prosperous and rewarding years with our 30+ students in Vancouver.”

Ed tech and educational services

UK: Study Group buys platform developed by Imperial College London Sydney-based international education provider Study Group is acquiring London-headquartered learning experience platform developer Insendi.

Study Group chief executive Emma Lancaster said: “We are delighted to welcome Insendi to the Study Group family. I have been deeply impressed by the team’s technical credentials as a company which grew out of their work at Imperial College and their focus on engaging higher education learning using their platform.

“Insendi is a great company with high-quality international higher education partners and an exciting potential in its own right. Together

with Study Group’s 25 years of experience of working with university partners and helping international students succeed, we see significant opportunities.

“We are particularly attracted to working with Insendi because of their strong educational focus and background, and we are confident that the ability of our students to progress to excellent universities, to thrive and achieve success in their studies and careers will be enhanced by this development.”

Director and co-founder of Insendi Dr David LeFevre, who is also the director of the EdTech Lab at Imperial College, London said: “Insendi is extremely pleased to

become part of the Study Group family, while maintaining our own unique identity and reputation.

Together we see genuine complementary strengths and a real potential for business growth in the future.

“Key to this opportunity is our mutual commitment to excellent education. Increasingly, the teaching and support of students draws on the breakthrough technologies that are impacting our society. Study Group and Insendi are aligned in a commitment to the potential of new technologies informed by educational research to support learning and enhance student attainment.

“Our shared view is that these technologies are increasingly important to students and teachers and they will play a pivotal role in the future as international education addresses questions of access, resilience and environmental sustainability. We are excited about exploring these possibilities.”

Study Group confirmed that Insendi will retain its own distinctive brand, board and specialism within the group.

Study Group said it will also work closely with Insendi to develop its online student support and bespoke provision in the years to come.

Australia: Algeco acquires school space firm London-based modular space rental firm Algeco Group has acquired Australia-based Net Modular, which specialises in manufacturing and servicing modular buildings for schools.

Rutherforn, New South Walesbased Net Modular specialises in the manufacturing and servicing of premium modular buildings for

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schools. It has held contracts with the New South Department of Education and Public Works for more than 30 years, has approximately 70 employees and its 2019 revenue was approximately A$75 million.

Algeco chairman Mike Smith said: “The acquisition of Net Modular further strengthens our presence in the Australian education

segment and I’m delighted that the Net Modular team will remain and continue to lead and develop the business. Driving profitability through acquisitions is a clear priority for our business and we are making good progress in this regard with this being our fifth announced acquisition. The pipeline remains active and we look forward

to announcing further acquisitions in the coming months.”

Ian Doherty, general manager of Net Modular, said: “We’re delighted to be joining the Algeco team. Our client will continue to benefit from our best-in-class service delivery and quality, in addition to Algeco’s broader product and innovation capabilities.”

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

NEWS

Ed tech and educational services

Australia: Vivi Partners raises UK: PE-backed Juniper Education seals two deals funds for US expansion in a month At the end of January private equity-backed Juniper Education snapped up online assessment and reporting provider Maze Education, bolstering its pupil-progresstracking offering that is sold to schools.

Earlier in the month Juniper acquired Nottingham-based Prime Principle, developers of Classroom Monitor, the tool used to track pupil progress in around 1,500 schools.

Maze Education, which provides information on individual pupils’ performance to primary schools, “brings a new level of insight” to Juniper Education’s offering of software and services which is used in more than 7,000 schools, says Gavin Freed, chairman of the latter business.

He adds: “Schools want to be able to provide tailored support to the children in their classrooms. Maze

Education has developed solutions to help schools understand each pupil’s strengths and areas for support so they can design more personalised interventions.”

Maze Education takes schools’ test data and creates reports that show how individual pupils performed in various subjects.

Juniper Education, which is owned by Horizon Private Equity, was formerly known as EES for Schools.

Its portfolio also includes Target Tracker, OTrack and Classroom Monitor.

Horizon acquired the business last year from Essex County Council.

The business also provides services to assist schools with financial management, teacher training, HR and school visits planning.

Vivi International, an Australian ed tech start-up, has closed a funding round with New Yorkbased investment group, Riverside Acceleration Capital (RAC).

The funding will help fast-track South Yarra, Victoria-based Vivi’s expansion into the US market.

The round was overseen by Melbourne-based independent financial advisory firm, Intrinsic Partners, and combines the RAC funding with investment from a syndicate of Australian investors keen to support growing technology companies.

This latest round sees Vivi reach A$6 million in total raised capital over a four-year period.

Launched in 2016, Vivi says it provides teachers with classroom management tools that drive student productivity and monitor health and wellbeing. Vivi adds that its screen mirroring solution sets teachers free to roam the classroom and interact

with students, while enabling students to share their screens with the class or small groups for immediate feedback.

Vivi founder Lior Rauchberger said: “We are absolutely delighted with the financial backing and support shown by RAC. It’s a real vote of confidence in the business and the impact our software has had on the education sector. We look forward to a long-term partnership that will help us continue to transform student engagement by delivering our classroom management solution to educators around the world.”

Natalie Mactier, Vivi chief executive, said: “We’re thrilled to be joining the RAC family, who are the ideal partner to help scale Vivi even faster. We have been overwhelmed by the reception from US schools and the capital raised in partnership with RAC will hyper accelerate our sales and marketing efforts with the goal to become the world’s leading classroom engagement platform.”

US: Hyland takes over blockchain credentialing start-up

China: Investment fund acquires pair of education agencies

Enterprise content management company Hyland has acquired Learning Machine, a blockchain credentialing start-up that grew out of the MIT Labs, Ledger Insights has reported.

Learning Machine uses blockchain technology, which underpins bitcoin and other crypto-currency transactions, to authenticate documents and content.

Its technology is widely used for issuing digitally secured diplomas and transcripts for and by higher education institutions.

Hyland stated that 900 such institutions already use its content services platform.

Global Education Technologies, a Chinese investment company, has acquired a majority stake in two large education agency businesses – iae China and Global Education Alliance, The Pie News has reported.

The acquired firms are international student recruitment companies with significant presences in China. iae China was previously part of iae Holdings and is a global student recruitment and marketing consultancy consulting students from China, India, South Korea and other countries on overseas education provision.

Hong Kong-based GEA provides

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Learning Machine raised $3 million in a 2018 seed round and started out focusing on education, to provide credentials for diplomas and exams.

It later expanded its offerings to the government sector for licences and identity, and health records.

Hyland is owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.

overseas study counselling to students, placement and visa services, and other services for students.

Global Education Technologies indicated it will combine the business of GEA – focused in the south – and iae China – focused in the north – with some overlap in central China.

Mark Lucas, director of group administration and business development at iae Holdings, said: “Under the new holding company, the two companies are currently operating separate businesses, but later on will be merging the missions, marketing support and training.”

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NEWS

Ed tech and educational services

US: The Preiss Company and Investcorp sign student housing joint venture The Preiss Company, a privatelyheld student housing owneroperator, and Investcorp, a global provider and manager of alternative investment products, have announced the joint venture acquisition of the 525-bed Signature West Midtown student housing complex in Atlanta, Georgia.

Susan Folckemer, chief acquisitions and development officer at The Preiss Company, said: “This acquisition marks our fourth student housing complex in Georgia and our entry into the attractive and growing Atlanta market.

“Signature West Midtown benefits from an exceptional location just steps from Georgia Tech and aligns with The Preiss Company’s business strategy of targeting properties based on school selectivity, the health and diversity

of the job market in which the asset is located, and the asset itself.

“The recently completed building and units are in excellent physical condition, and we foresee minimal, if any, new renovations in the immediate future. We’re confident that the Signature West Midtown will benefit from our proprietary marketing and management tools and fully expect to see increases in both rentals and resident satisfaction scores.”

The complex provides studio and one- to five-bedroom configurations.

Communal amenities include a resort-style pool and sundeck, rooftop lounge with a view of downtown, 24-hour fitness centre, cyber café with free printing, rideshare lounge, bike storage and package locker system. There’s also

Signature West Midtown

10,500 square feet of retail located within the building.

Folckemer added: “Though just a few weeks into 2020, we expect steady growth of our student housing portfolio to continue, driven by Georgia’s thriving

higher education system. We look forward to further success as more current and future students seek opportunities in the state.”

The Preiss Company is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Investcorp is headquartered in Bahrain.

Germany: 3B Scientific acquires medical simulation company Hamburg-based 3B Scientific, which manufactures and markets anatomical models and medical simulation products for healthcare and patient education, is acquiring medical simulation company iSimulate.

Todd Murray, chief executive of 3B Scientific, said: “iSimulate has revolutionised simulation training in healthcare through its creative simulation solutions. We are extremely excited to further

develop the 3B Scientific platform and add the great products and people of iSimulate to our company.

Our 3B Scientific global distribution footprint including 14 commercial locations is uniquely positioned to further support and accelerate the growth of iSimulate products worldwide.” iSimulate chief executive Peter McKie added: “We are proud of the progress we have made with our company and we decided that the

3B Scientific team would be the best partner for us to expand and grow the business in the years to come. We are excited for the next step in our journey and appreciate the support from our customers worldwide.”

After the closing, Peter McKie, Anthony Lewis and Bobby Syed will remain active in the company and continue to drive the business plan for iSimulate, whose operations will remain unchanged and will continue

to be based in Canberra, Australia and Albany, New York.

3B Scientific is a portfolio company of J.H. Whitney Capital Partners.

Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and Clayton Utz are legal advisors to 3B Scientific and J.H. Whitney Capital Partners. Schwartz Heslin Group is acting as a financial advisor to iSimulate, and Pepper Hamilton and MinterEllison are legal advisors to iSimulate.

US: Kendall Hunt to buy Paradigm Education Solutions Kendall Hunt Publishing Company is acquiring Paradigm Education Solutions, a provider of postsecondary print and digital learning solutions, from Carnegie Learning, a learning technology company based in Pittsburgh.

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Kendall Hunt Publishing Company is a provider of educational products and services focused on the higher education market, based in Dubuque, Iowa.

Carnegie’s chief executive

Barry Malkin described the acquisition in terms of a divestment saying: “We continue to refine our focus on the K12 market so we can best serve the needs of teachers and students everywhere. Kendall Hunt

Publishing is the perfect new home for Paradigm Education Solutions to continue making an impact in higher education.”

Paradigm Education Solutions is headquartered in St Paul, Minnesota.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

NEWS

Ed tech and educational services

US: Raine exits Parchment following Credentials merger The Raine Group, a global investment bank focused exclusively on technology, media and telecommunications, has exited its portfolio company Parchment, an education platform for issuing and receiving academic and professional credentials. This move follows the completion of Parchment’s merger with Credentials Solutions which is backed by Brentwood Associates.

Jeff Sine, co-founder and partner of Raine, said: “We were

attracted to Parchment because of its mission to help turn credentials into opportunities, its team and its potential to capitalise on shifting education sector dynamics. In the seven years that we have partnered with the company, it has become the most widely adopted digital credential service on the market.

The education industry has a strong need for innovative technological solutions and services, and the combined Parchment and Credentials Solutions organisation

is well-positioned to build on its market leading position.”

Matthew Pittinsky, chief executive of Parchment, the combined company, said: “Raine has been a valued partner to Parchment for many years, providing not only funding, but strategic counsel and access to their deep network. We thank Jeff, the Raine team and all of our investors for their significant contributions and dedication to our growth over the years.”

Raine, Parchment’s majority investor, first invested in Parchment in 2012, leading subsequent rounds prior to the merger with Credentials Solutions. Parchment became the most widely adopted credential service allowing learners, academic institutions, and employers to request, verify, and share credentials in simple and secure ways. The platform has enabled millions of people to exchange more than 40 million transcripts and other credentials globally.

US: Banyan Software buys student information system Banyan Software, which acquires growing enterprise software businesses, has acquired School Pathway, which provides a web-based student information system for independent study and online schools.

Founded in 2001 by two former teachers, Portola, Californiaheadquartered School Pathways provides a school information system to help administrators and teachers with tasks such as state-

level reporting, managing class enrolment and daily lesson plans.

Banyan Software’s chief executive David Berkal said: “Over the years School Pathways has earned the reputation of providing best-in-class service for their clients. We’re delighted to partner with such a customerfocused management team in this new chapter for the company and are confident Banyan’s expertise in growing industry-specific

software companies will prove beneficial for clients over the coming years.”

School Pathway’s team will remain unchanged through the transaction, including the company’s two executives, chief operating officer Amy Gruber, and chief technology officer Ben Fojas.

Fojas said: “Banyan gave us a fresh and disciplined look into our business operations and market strategy during diligence. Our

team is excited to realise a vision of School Pathways’ next big steps with the insight from Banyan’s collective experience to guide us on our way.”

Atlanta-based Banyan is backed by a group of chief executives and investors with technology experience. It has a permanent capital base and focuses on a buy and hold for life strategy for growing software companies that serve specialised markets.

US: Tax software group acquires seminar company Global tax software provider Sovos has acquired Booke Seminars, which provides educational seminars to employees of insurance companies and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on topics across the property, casualty, life and health insurance sectors.

US law requires insurance companies to submit a series of statutory reports and state compliance, municipal tax and premium tax forms to more than 50 state and territory insurance departments, as well as the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. These complex filings are unique to each jurisdiction, and regulations change annually.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Booke’s customers include many of the nation’s largest insurers and the IRS, which rely on Booke’s comprehensive educational seminars and webinars to help them stay up to date. In 2018, for example, Booke held almost 200 seminars and webinars, catering to nearly 4,500 attendees.

Andy Hovancik, chief executive of Sovos, said: “Insurers must stay educated on myriad requirements in order to remain compliant, and they stand to gain significant operational efficiency and risk mitigation through technology and process automation. That’s why Booke’s professional

education programmes, combined with Sovos software solutions, promise to be a powerful driver in alleviating the burden of compliance on insurance companies operating in the US.” Paul Banker, vice-president and general manager of the tax and regulatory reporting line of business at Sovos, said: “From seminars to self-study guides to handbooks, Booke has helped individuals and companies increase industry knowledge for more than 50 years.”

Booke is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Sovos is based in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

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NEWS

Ed tech and educational services

North America: ProctorU and Yardstick to merge ProctorU, the online exam security and identity management company, and Yardstick Assessment Strategies, which provides psychometrics and computer-based exam administration for professional testing organisations, are merging to form a new parent brand, Meazure Learning.

Scott McFarland has been appointed chief executive of Meazure

Learning and will continue to serve as chief executive of ProctorU. He said: “ProctorU and Yardstick have already proven themselves as leaders in their respective markets, and now, by integrating both companies’ unique offerings and strengths together, we’re poised to truly transform those markets.”

In conjunction with the merger, Meazure Learning raised more than

$30 million in growth capital led

by Eastside Partners, which will allow both ProctorU and Yardstick to make additional investments in technology and services.

Yardstick and ProctorU will each continue to operate under their respective brands. Yardstick will serve as Meazure’s market-leading professional testing business unit, while ProctorU will continue its

leadership and focus in higher education.

Yardstick’s management team and headquarters will continue to be based in Canada, with planned expansions for its locations in Ottawa, Toronto and Edmonton.

ProctorU will maintain its headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, and offices throughout the US.

US: Educational executive search group recruits new business Philadelphia-based education executive search firm Diversified Search Group has acquired fellow educational search firm Storbeck Search & Associates, headquartered in Media, Pennsylvania.

Storbeck will join Diversified Search and its previously combined firms of BioQuest, Koya Leadership Partners, and Grant Cooper as a member of The Diversified Search Group.

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Founded by Shelly Storbeck in 2007, Storbeck has 50 employees across seven states and the District of Columbia. It has conducted searches for some of the US’s top colleges and universities, private schools, and non-profit institutions. Its roster of university clients includes Brown, Columbia, Haverford, Johns Hopkins, Lawrenceville, Michigan State, Northwestern, Pomona, Princeton,

Swarthmore, and the University of Wisconsin.

Judith M von Seldeneck, founder and chair of Diversified Search, said: “We are happy to welcome Storbeck into The Diversified Search Group, where along with Diversified’s strong higher education practice and the team from Koya, we now bring a combined deep and proven track record of success in the higher

education search sector in the industry today.”

Founded by von Seldeneck in 1974, Diversified Search has 11 US offices and has representation in 53 offices in 31 countries worldwide through its partnership with AltoPartners, the international alliance of independent executive search firms that spans the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

NEWS

NEWS IN BRIEF

n Philanthropist

and former financier George Soros is donating $1 billion to fund a new global network of universities designed to promote liberal values and his vision of an open society, The Guardian has reported.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Soras said his new Open Society University Network would build on his Central European University (CEU), which he set up in Hungary after the collapse of communism 30 years ago. Calling it the “most important and enduring project of my life”, Soros said he will fund institutions that resist the drift towards growing authoritarianism in the US, Russia and China.

The CEU was forced to move from Hungary to Vienna after Hungary’s right-wing leader, Viktor Orban, stopped it from issuing US degrees.

Swiss language tutor Education n First is talking exclusively to global private equity firm Permira about selling its China operations, in a deal valuing the business at $1.6 billion, The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources.

Education First is owned by founder Bertil Hult and his family.

Last year the company hired

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

JPMorgan Chase & Co to help sell the business, which achieved about $100 million in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation last year.

Instructure and private equity n firm Thoma Bravo entered into an amended merger agreement after Thoma Bravo increased its offer to $49, up from $47.60.

Earlier, the proposed deal had run into trouble after investors balked at the original terms offered for the Salt Lake City, Utah-based firm.

However, educational software company Instructure’s board of directors approved the revised agreement and recommend the company’s stockholders to vote in favour.

J.P. Morgan Securities is exclusive financial advisor to Instructure and Cooley is its legal advisor.

Kirkland & Ellis is legal advisor to Thoma Bravo.

Through McDonald’s Archways to Opportunity education programme, restaurant employees who work a minimum of 90 days for15 hours a week will be eligible for tuition assistance of up to $2,500 a year as a crew member and up to $3,000 a year as a manager.

Ivy Tech will offer crosswalk credits to McDonald’s restaurant employees for some on-thejob training and classes, plus individualised counselling – allowing them to earn a degree faster.

Bangalore-based InterviewBit, n

n Boston-based AdmitHub, the

learning platform Top Hat has raised $55 million in Series D equity and debt financing, in a round co-led by existing investors Georgian Partners and Inovia Capital.

The rest of Top Hat’s existing equity investors also participated, including Union Square Ventures, Emergence Capital and Leaders Fund.

Top Hat makes a number of software tools for teachers in higher education. The company stated that, combined with debt financing from BMO Technology and Innovation Banking Group, this funding will enable it to continue to accelerate the disruption of traditional textbooks and course materials.

developer of a conversational artificial intelligence platform used by more than 90 educational institutions, has secured investments from Salesforce Ventures and the Google Assistant investment programme.

The funding follows a 2018 Series A round led by education impact investor University Ventures, with n McDonald’s restaurants in participation from Reach Capital, Indiana and Ivy Tech Community Relay Ventures, and Rethink.

College Indiana signed a deal to Although the amount of current make college more affordable and funding was undisclosed it was offer training for staff at more than revealed that the round brings the 300 McDonald’s locations and company’s total funding over the involving 18 Ivy Tech campuses. past year to $7.5 million.

a start-up company that provides its clients with an online training module for programming, has raised more than $20 million in a Series A round led by Sequoia India and Tiger Global, with participation by Global Founders Capital and some others.

With the recent round of capital injection, InterviewBit’s valuation stands at $110 million.

The company delivers daily livestreamed classes that allow aspiring software to study remotely.

Toronto-based higher education n

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GLOBAL: CORONAVIRUS IMPACT

Death, disruption and the student supply strain The novel coronavirus has infected the global education sector. In this special report, Josh O’Neill offers a thorough assessment of the wide-ranging symptoms and shares strategic prescriptions that could help alleviate operational and financial pains

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EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

GLOBAL: CORONAVIRUS IMPACT

V

iruses and business are not a good mix.

We’ve all been here. You’re sitting at your desk in the office, in close quarters with colleagues, when someone starts coughing violently. The germophobe within immediately cries out. If the offender is by your side, you might shuffle away from them, wrinkle your nose and furrow your brow in disapproval/disgust.

Hypochondriacs may reach for sanitising gel or slip on a face mask. But all efforts to guard immune systems are in vain. In the end, the infection spreads like spilt coffee on a desk, leaving some office serfs sniffling at their workstations while leading others to self-quarantine on a work-from-home basis or take sick leave.

Viruses are successful at what they do because of their innate ability to mutate rapidly. Businesses, on the other hand, are not the most agile of beings. In the scenario outlined above, consider a sick member of staff who doesn’t have a laptop and thus cannot work from home. Or, they may not have remote access to essential servers or CRM systems. Perhaps the person lives with their parents, who haven’t an adequate space in which they can work, or simply don’t want them lingering around during the day. All too real are such circumstances, particularly for SMEs. This year’s outbreak of the novel coronavirus – or COVID-19, to use its official name – has spawned a worldwide work-from-home experiment of unparalleled scale. In an educational context, the black swan has triggered a mass experiment in online learning of similar proportions.

What is speculated to have begun life in January as a never-before-seen viral strain at an animal market in Wuhan, China, has rapidly transformed into an epidemic that has shut down cities, crippled businesses and curbed international travel. As we go to print, the respiratory virus – for which there is currently no vaccine – has crossed six continents, infected over 83,000 people and killed nearly 3,000 – and counting. In response, businesses are being forced to change tack abruptly and develop workarounds, the most obvious of which is remote working.

Institutions of all stripes have been disrupted as the virus has metastasised across countries and industries within them. In the UK, several GP surgeries have been shut down. Hong Kong’s flagship airline, Cathay Pacific, asked its staff to take three weeks’ unpaid leave. Formula One’s Chinese Grand Prix has been postponed. Sporting events have been cancelled. Organisers of this year’s Olympic Games, to be held in Tokyo this summer, have cast serious doubt on whether they will run to schedule.

Conferences are being culled across the globe. There are endless examples, but the point is this: not every line of labour or activity can be carried out online.

Providers of education – discounting online specialists – have come to realise this amid their efforts to fend off infection by transitioning to online provision. For the global education sector, the symptoms of the coronavirus outbreak are acutely painful in the short – to potentially medium – term, for several reasons.

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GLOBAL: CORONAVIRUS IMPACT

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and global. We’ll begin with China-related issues before First, providers of face-to-face education often lack the strategic agility and flexible infrastructures that enable exploring problems pertaining to education markets outside remote learning and working during times of tumult the mainland. (hence substitute teachers’ existence). Moreover, in-person Large portions of China’s education market, which is interaction is not merely a nicety but an imperative in valued at around $300 billion, are effectively at a standstill. some instances – when teaching special needs students, Public and private schools and nurseries are all closed across the mainland least mid-March. With more than 500,000 for example.

Second, a great many institutions across the world make schools, 260 million students and 15 million teachers, China a lot of money by educating or enrolling pupils from faris home to the world’s largest education system. flung countries, with China being by far and away the Hong Kong’s international schools, which along with largest feeder of international students. state schools and kindergartens are At present, a large number of flights not permitted to re-open until at least into and out of China are cancelled. The 20 April, are bracing for financial Schools’ major timing of the outbreak has exacerbated headwinds, with some warning that they might have to close permanently. this particular problem. The virus began concerns are to spread over the Lunar New Year – Their concerns were relayed to Hong around staff – will one of China’s most important holidays Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, in a existing talent want – for which natives often return home. letter written by the French and British to stay, and will they It is likely that those who did so have chambers of commerce. It reads: “If the be able to recruit since been unable to leave to return to specific needs of international schools their overseas studies. (More on this cannot be rapidly addressed, this will new teachers particularly thorny issue later.) very likely trigger decisions of families (not just expatriates) to leave Hong Kong Third, schools and other educational centres – filled with youngsters with in the coming weeks. This would also undeveloped immune systems and relatively poor hygiene have dramatic consequences on the international schools’ habits – are ideal breeding grounds for viruses. Keeping financial position, even to the point of putting at risk the doors open in danger zones is to sign a reputational death continued operation of some.” warrant – not to mention potentially illegal.

This development comes at a time of protracted turmoil in Hong Kong, where chaotic riots and violent clashes Fourth, education of all varieties tends to be paid for between police and protestors over the past eight months in advance. If one has shelled out on a service that was have prompted many foreign families to flee, piling further ultimately not delivered, then one may seek a refund or reimbursement. From a provider’s perspective, handing pressure on the city’s international schools. Mark Schaub, back fees is essentially a loss of revenue – and could cause partner at China-focused legal firm King & Wood Mallesons, cash flow issues later down the line. says “we foresee a much-reduced number of foreign students There are two lenses through which one should look in China” and Hong Kong. “Overall, our assessment is that to assess the coronavirus’s impact on education: Chinese it will take at least a year to normalise.”

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EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

GLOBAL: CORONAVIRUS IMPACT

Julian Fisher, Venture Education

Mark Schaub, King & Wood Mallesons

This year, 16 new offshoots of British independent In a letter to parents, David Ingram, headmaster of Dulwich schools are set to open in China, joining the 17 established College Shanghai Minhang, acknowledged that “the issue brands which collectively run 36 schools in the country, of instability and slow download speeds” have “frustrated” according to Venture Education, a consultancy. However, fee-paying families. Their qualms are understandable, in light of the coronavirus outbreak, projects have been put considering so-called tiger parents shell out up to £35,000 on ice. “Construction sites are currently at a standstill, so a year for private schooling at Dulwich. According to Fisher, there will be very real challenges in terms of infrastructure, “younger students and exam-year students” – A-Level exams but also in relation to licensing and other paperworkbegin in two months – “are particularly badly affected, as related issues,” Julian Fisher, senior partner at Venture online activities are no replacement for the necessary human interaction or ability to motivate and Education, tells this publication.

To be sure, established schools are respond to students’ individual needs”. facing tough times, too, as the transition Chinese networks are bound to stringent to online delivery has proved tricky. laws prohibiting material deemed to “Schools have been forced to move be lewd or politically insensitive, and A fall in Chinese everything online and tout its success, punishments for breaching China’s students may but the reality is that most schools internet rules range from account freezes weaken rental have not done this before and their to jail time. But official censors can be growth and directunderstanding of online teaching is overly sensitive. In vignettes posted let occupancy online, several teachers say they have limited,” says Fisher. “Teachers are hurriedly familiarising themselves with been temporarily excluded from streaming new platforms.” The majority of schools platforms for various infringements. In one are offering online education “in one instance, an obstetrics and gynaecology form or another”, according to ISC teacher was blocked for using “bad Research. For instance, Wellington College International language”, but “realised it was probably because I was describing genital anatomy”.

Shanghai is trialling a virtual-learning platform and its Listed Chinese school groups’ share prices mirror the teachers are producing short video lessons for students. hardship and uncertain times that they’re facing. On 17 “Meanwhile, parents of children in schools across China are grumbling that they are now having to do all the February, Bright Scholar, Maple Leaf and Wisdom Education work and that dumping tasks” – setting basic homework were down 7%, 10% and 11%, respectively, from a month prior. Similarly, Chinese pre-school operator RYB Education assignments via rudimentary online portals – “is not an was down 10% on the same date. effective way to teach their children.”

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Students in China seeking an educational human touch It’s not only students and shareholders who are suffering are, at present, largely unable to get it – even outside the as a result of all this. Teachers’ careers have been thrown classroom. After-school tuition centres, which in China into a temporary state of flux as travel bans prevent and Hong Kong make up a $64 billion industry according foreign teaching staff from re-entering China, never mind to Frost & Sullivan, are also out of action. Yet movements returning to school. Their employers, meanwhile, are in the share prices of after-school tuition providers do unable to tell them when they’ll be allowed back in the not depict a tale of outright hardship – volatility has classroom because the Chinese government can’t say when, been short-lived and contained within narrow windows. exactly, they’ll be permitted to re-enter the country. While staff members’ salaries are for the most part unaffected, Between 16 January – days after the first known death from the disease was reported – and 24 January, TAL it can be difficult to get by on a Chinese teaching wage Education and New Oriental, China’s largest listed tuition in expensive cities like Sydney, London and New York, providers, tumbled 17% and 13%, where many English-speaking staff hail respectively, before recovering to yearfrom. One teacher residing in Australia to-date highs. These relatively mild price who works for a school in Hangzhou dips – and subsequent bounce-backs tells this publication via LinkedIn: “I Current challenges – can be explained, in part, by their want to get back to work. Staying in are likely to refocus expanding online channels. In its 2019 Australia is damn expensive. The school the conversation can’t give us a firm date; every time they annual report, TAL said sales from its online courses accounted for 17% of do it changes.” on revenue total revenues, up from 7% in 2018 The position that foreign teachers diversification and 4.7% in 2017, illustrating the everhave been put in is causing Venture opportunities growing importance of digital channels Education’s China-based international in the tuition sector. (It is worth noting, school clients to fret about future though, that online tuition costs up to recruitment, at a time when there is a chronic shortage of teaching staff 50% less – and thus produces slimmer across the world. Fisher says: “Schools’ major concerns margins than classroom-based teaching.) are around staff – will existing talent want to stay, and However, independent centre-based tuition providers, will they be able to recruit new teachers.” which operate to thinner margins and thus haven’t the infrastructure nor spare capital to implement a breakChina has responded to adversity in typical grandiose neck shift to online provision, will be hard hit by the fashion. In mid-February, some 200 million children plunge in footfall. resumed studies online after the government established

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7,000 servers, each capable of hosting 50 million users at a time. For those in remote areas without internet access, some lessons are broadcasted on state TV channels. But although the scale of such an operation is unequivocally impressive – especially so, given the short window of time within which it was built – the consensus among teachers online is pessimistic. In a LinkedIn post, Malcolm Harrison, headmaster of JKFZ Cambridge International School in Jiangxi, says: “Tools that allow for active learning and continuous formative assessment are not really available at present”, adding that “it would be so much simpler” if platforms such as Google Classrooms, Nearpod and Kahoot! could be accessed. Alas, they can’t, due to China’s rigorous restrictions on foreign content.

An educational epidemic As we can see, the problems that the coronavirus outbreak has caused for China’s education sector are significant and wide-reaching. But what about the rest of the world’s education markets? Suffice it to say, China’s seismic influence on global trade and economies is allencompassing; education operators and service providers to them across the world are feeling reverberations.

As mentioned earlier, China is the world’s largest exporter of international students. In 2018, the year for which the most recent figures are available, some 662,000 Chinese pupils embarked on studies overseas, according to the Beijing Overseas-Study Service Association (BOSSA). There are millions of Chinese nationals enrolled in foreign studies, ranging from boarding schooling in the UK, through to pathway courses and university degrees in Australia.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Australia’s education market – the nation’s third-largest export – is heavily reliant on revenues from Chinese nationals, who collectively make up a A$15 billion (£7.7 billion) student cohort. The country’s university sector is over-exposed, several experts have warned, with around 10% of all students coming from China – comprising almost half of the overall international student body. Most (60%) study at Go8 institutions, the country’s top-eight universities. The University of Sydney, for example, collected A$500 million in fees from Chinese students in 2017 – accounting for onefifth of its total annual revenues.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that the tertiary sector Down Under is feeling the pinch of travel bans to and from China imposed by the Australian government. At the time of writing, Australia had extended its travel ban to 22 February. More than half of some 200,000 Chinese students at Australia’s universities, most of whom spend upwards of A$30,000 a year on tuition, have been unable to resume their studies because of their ineligibility to re-enter the country. Meanwhile, a recently published report by BOSSA states that between 40% and 60% of Chinese students have been “directly affected” in overseas university and visa applications. China’s Ministry of Education cancelled all English-proficiency exams scheduled for February; as a result, BOSSA’s report says, 35% of Chinese students had “incomplete materials” for their applications.

According to Standard & Poor’s, this places up to $3.1 billion in tuition fees at risk. In turn, universities’ credit profiles are also in jeopardy, should the outbreak fail to stabilise by April, the ratings agency has said. “The health crisis underscores the risks that stem from the sector’s growing dependence on the lucrative international market,” says S&P. It has been reported that some students are transferring to institutions in Europe and the US. The Australian Global Reputation Task Force says that enrolments and revenue could be reduced by as much as 30% due to COVID-19.

A number of universities have responded to the coronavirus crisis by delaying the semester’s official start date from 24 February to as late as 30 March and offering online tuition in the meantime. But China’s stringent national firewall can impede cross-border online education, points out Anip Sharma, partner at L.E.K. Consulting’s global education practice. “Universities are having to negotiate with the great firewall of China – not everything can get through,” he says. Universities have reportedly called on Beijing to relax online barriers. “Plus, it takes a time and resources to create online content – and even then, the solution could be sub-optimal. It is usually hard for a year one undergraduate international student to access content often in a new language without support,” he adds.

“Online solutions aren’t necessarily readily available or easy to deploy.” In a testament to this notion, the University of New South Wales advised its students stuck in China to defer studies until June instead of offering online classes.

Sharma notes that the outbreak has come at a crunch time for the higher education sector. “This is the peak of the intake cycle for Australian universities,” he says. “They can’t enrol new [Chinese] students, nor can they re-enrol existing students who haven’t returned from Lunar New Year celebrations.”

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At the very least, according to Sharma, Australian universities will incur increased costs linked to additional support services, exam re-sits and extended timetables.

In the worst-case scenario, the outbreak will continue throughout the first semester, at the end of which tuition fee revenues could be irrecoverable. “Ultimately, the timeframe is crucial,” he says. “If this continues for a while, then semester one revenues could be lost.” A report by Nikkei Asian Review claims that some students may have to delay graduating for a year because certain compulsory courses are only available in the first semester.

Homes under the hammer Students stuck in China are more than likely required to keep paying rent on their student digs abroad, in countries such as the UK and Australia, even if they’re empty. While this is obviously a bad situation for student tenants, it might sound like good news for accommodation providers, which are effectively being paid for vacant rooms. This is not necessarily the case.

Scape, Australia’s biggest student accommodation provider, says that around 85% of its portfolio is booked, but that around a quarter of those bookings, or students, are yet to arrive due to travel bans. Typically, the firm will contend with around 50 cancellations across its portfolio of properties; this number has risen to 100 in light of the coronavirus outbreak. Scape is waiving fees for affected students until the travel ban is lifted.

Meanwhile in the UK, analysts at Berenberg, the investment bank, point out in a February note that “a fall in Chinese students may weaken rental growth and direct-let occupancy in 2020/21” – otherwise known as the knock-on effect. “With the potential for a material reduction in Chinese students for the academic year 2020/21, we think there is scope for some occupancy and

rental-growth headwinds,” write analysts, noting that, out of publicly listed student accommodation providers in the UK, “GCP and Empiric have the largest exposures” to Chinese student bodies. Conversely, London-listed Unite Students, which as the UK’s largest student accommodation provider controls 22% of the market, “remains the best-insulated and our top pick in purpose-built student accommodation”, analysts say. “Unite has the least potential exposure to the coronavirus.”

Unite was up 4.5% month-to-date on 18 February; GCP was down 6% over the same period, while Empiric had remained flat. But short-term share price movements are perhaps an inaccurate precursor of future financial performance, because any potential revenue losses are yet to be realised. As Sharma puts it: “Again, it comes back to the time-frame; if this continues for several months, then student accommodation providers could incur irreversible revenue losses.”

Other subsectors of the UK’s education market are facing complications and financial pressures, too.

There are nearly 13,000 Chinese nationals in UK independent schools, accounting for 44% of all overseas students. The vast majority are in boarding schools, with parents living in China or elsewhere. At the time of writing, half-term is underway. While the UK has not imposed an outright ban on travel to China, its government has advised “against all but essential travel” to the mainland.

Therefore, Chinese students who had wished to return home over half-term are unable to do so.

Vicky Wilson, senior associate in the education practice of Wilsons, a private client law firm, stresses that schools “must ensure alternative arrangements are made” for students whose legal guardians are unable to look after them over the half-term. “Schools should consider whether they should keep their boarding houses open and staffed,” says Wilson.

Anip Sharma, L.E.K. Consulting

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This, of course, means additional costs at a time when many single-site private schools are operating to paperthin margins. “This is likely to be less of an administrative burden than arranging alternative guardianship for a large number of pupils at very short notice.” The Boarding Schools’ Association goes a step further, advising its members to “put this in place for all pupils from Southeast Asia”, while stressing that “schools must proactively plan ahead for Easter”, in case the situation remains unchanged or worse.

Experts are sanguine about the opportunity to test out new online solutions and galvanise existing ones at a time when education consumers, in many cases, have no choice but to use them. In fact, TAL launched its first online programmes in the aftermath of the SARS epidemic. Education providers – school groups, universities and tuition businesses alike – should recognise the “opportunity to build brand along with large bases of consumers”, says Sharma. Shanghaibased iTutorGroup says the number of online classes taken on its platforms was three-times more than the From bad comes good previous year during the first ten days of February.

Disruption wields the power to move markets, and often Citigroup analyst Mark Li says that two million Chinese does so in a positive way in the long students have enrolled in short-term run. But before things get better, they are online classes. likely to get worse – at least in the short “This could be a watershed moment term – as the coronavirus continues to for online education,” says Sharma. run riot, day by day infecting thousands “We could see a boost in adoption This could be a more people and claiming hundreds levels as people who were late adopters more lives. Over the four days it took or sceptics sample online solutions and watershed moment become more receptive. to construct this article, the number of for online infections practically doubled, while the “Providers that do a good job will education virus claimed an additional 1,000 lives. be remembered by students, and this Certain educational sub-sectors, such in turn will build trust and create a as private schools and higher education, positive brand image.” are resilient during downturns and will Where universities are concerned, the situation should serve as a wakealmost certainly be able to weather the storm – albeit with operational and financial hiccups along up call to institutions that are over-reliant on income the way. But for independent, centre-based education from Chinese students, and give impetus to revenue providers in China, the prognosis could be bleak. The diversification plays. “Current challenges are likely to SARS outbreak of 2003 stress-tested small, unorganised refocus the conversation on revenue diversification education providers, many of which didn’t survive. opportunities, even those beyond international students, A similar story could play out over the coming months, like transnational and online education,” says Sharma. should the COVID-19 crisis fail to be quickly quelled.

“Should the current situation recover soon, universities While there is no strategic antidote, there are operational would be well served to avoid the temptation to go back medicines that education providers can in the meantime to business as usual.” swallow to alleviate symptoms and enhance performance.

“After all, today it is the coronavirus. Tomorrow, it Indeed, you might even say there are even silver linings. could be something else.” n

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

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GLOBAL: LEADERSHIP LUNCH

Double act Josh O’Neill breaks bread with Harry Hortyn and Robert Phipps, co-founders of Oxford Summer Courses, the UK’s fastest-growing education organisation, who argue that two heads are better than one when it comes to running their business

T

hey’re a blood-chilling sight, polycephalic creatures.

“The key change in recent years has been Rob and I Ancient history books fable two-headed beasts transitioning from having our sleeves rolled up, working at of varying forms – snakes, dogs, lions, goats – the front of the business, to taking a step back and giving depending on the country in which their existence was people autonomy,” says Hortyn. “We’re clear with staff conjured up. But common threads run through such about the strategy, and try as hard as we can to allow them figments: they usually represent evil forces, are unruly to deliver their parts without micro-managing.” and can be cannibalistic. Because of these traits, they can It wasn’t always like this, though. He and Phipps launched OSC while holding down full-time jobs in impact offer an apt metaphor for business co-leaders who, it is investing and management consulting, respectively. “It often said, clash heads rather than come together as one. was scrappy,” he says. In the early days, Hortyn’s and David Martin & Company, a leadership consulting firm, Phipps’ roles and responsibilities were sprawling; their says that placing two people in a role in which there is typically one decision-maker “almost work ethics accordingly vigorous. They never works”. found themselves mucking in at all Still, there are anomalies. Harry Hortyn levels, taking a “hands-on” approach and Robert Phipps have been business to joint leadership that, with hindsight, We’re clear with partners and serial entrepreneurs since sometimes led to conflicting instructions and a cloudy vision of where the company school, where they co-founded a GSCE staff about the revision guide. They later launched a was heading. Staff delivered a dose of strategy, and try five-a-side football business before reality during a candid feedback session as hard as we securing undergraduate places at Oxford in 2016. can to allow them University.

“We were both trying to co-manage to deliver their everyone,” recalls Hortyn, “occasionally While still at university in 2010, the duo, now 34, co-founded Oxford Summer giving them contradictory advice and parts without Courses (OSC), an educational travel instructions. We didn’t have a structured micro-managing business that each year places some 2,500 approach to targets. It worked out in the students from more than 100 countries end, but it meant heart palpitations for on short residential tuition courses in the team at the time.

Oxford and Cambridge. The firm, which “We weren’t necessarily doing the is split 50/50 between Hortyn and Phipps, turned over management part very well. It was definitely a wake-up £9.3 million in 2019 after growing annual sales by 62% over call.” the three years leading up to last – and it has been profitable On Hortyn’s suggestion, I meet with him and Phipps one each year since inception. OSC’s enviable performance has early January afternoon at a Greek restaurant in London’s landed it on The Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list two years St James’s, just around the corner from my office on running; in 2019, the firm was ranked 50, by measure of Haymarket. The eatery’s à la carte menu is eye-wateringly expensive, but its three-course business lunch is more fastest-growing revenues. It is the UK’s quickest-growing than reasonable. I breathe a sigh of relief on behalf of my education firm, according to the index. finance director.

As joint chief executives, Hortyn and Phipps are on a Hortyn and I are first to arrive. The stocky chief par with one another – and too many cooks don’t appear executive’s forehead is beaded in sweat – a byproduct of to have spoilt the broth. Indeed, they’ve developed a dish a jazz dance class he had attended with his wife just prior, so delicious that customers are queuing up for seconds.

What are the main ingredients in the lifelong friends’ he tells me. We had met for the first time before Christmas recipe for success? at a co-working space in North London that OSC inhabits.

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GLOBAL: LEADERSHIP LUNCH

In a new series, the authors of this publication lunch with educational leaders to illuminate their successes, setbacks and evolving management tactics in what is a dynamic era for education

Harry Hortyn and Robert Phipps, Oxford Summer Courses

Sporting a suit and carrying a briefcase, I had felt painfully overdressed amid a sea of corduroy shirts, jeans and trainers.

Now, wearing a blue Oxford shirt, chinos and boots, I feel inadequately clad among white tablecloths, waiters in ties and bottles of Bollinger. Fortunately, Hortyn is wearing a comparable outfit. A lofty Phipps arrives shortly after, also in casual attire.

In tow is marketing director Sonja Underwood, a jovial South African with a contagious smile and dark, shiny hair.

I kick off the conversation with a pressing question: are we having wine? No, we decide, after a short deliberation; Hortyn is recovering from a cold, he explains, while his companions have meetings to attend later in the day. Our sober gathering will be fuelled by water.

We promptly place our orders. Myself, Hortyn and Phipps opt for grilled octopus followed by a sumptuous-sounding salmon dish. Underwood also chooses the octopus starter, but decides to follow it with a Greek salad.

We tear at sourdough bread, dipping crusty chunks into pools of rich, golden olive oil while discussing the origins of OSC. Hortyn and Phipps first spotted the opportunity to offer summer schooling when they arrived in Oxford in 2005 to commence their undergraduate degrees – in philosophy, politics and economics, and history, respectively. “There was a fledgling summer school sector,” recalls Hortyn, who himself did some tutoring and thus had an insight into providers’ business models. “We mapped out what we thought their budgets would look like, saw a decent margin and thought: we could do this better ourselves.”

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Children who study with OSC are charged between £1,500 and £12,000 for tuition in 40 subjects, with courses lasting between one and six weeks. The all-in price covers the costs of insurance, airport transfers, meals, activities, travel and accommodation. Hortyn and Phipps didn’t have to look far for the latter when starting out. “It seemed mad, at the time, that the colleges had these huge dormitory buildings just lying vacant over summer,” says Hortyn. A casual negotiation led to a “very favourable deal” being struck between the young entrepreneurs and an Oxford college’s halls of residence, under which they secured as many rooms as they could fill without having to pay a deposit or guarantee a quota. “We basically got a free pass on the accommodation in the first year in terms of financial risk,” he says. Serendipitously, the pair honed the art of the deal.

Tutors, in the form of university friends and master’s students, were easy to source. Back then, around three-quarters of OSC’s teachers were “either people we knew, or friends of friends”, explains Hortyn. Another pal built a website that “looked like it was designed on an Etch A Sketch” but ranked highly on Google thanks to deft search engine optimisation.

Then, Hortyn and Phipps “hacked together a timetable, threw it on the website and waited to see what would happen”.

In 2010, its first official year of operation, OSC catered to around just 30 students, all of whom were sourced via online channels, digital adverts and word of mouth. Student numbers grew at around 100% annually until 2012, when Phipps’ mother, Barbara, joined the group as head of sales.

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▶ (She capped off her career with OSC, retiring last year after

Hortyn neglects his food – eating while conversing is an seven years in the job.) “This was a crucial time for growth,” elegant art that few manage to master – as he rhapsodises says Phipps, who attributes the “first really significant jump” about the importance of corporate culture and its ability to in student numbers to his mum’s unrelenting efforts. “She facilitate and drive autonomy among staff. I ask him what was making hundreds of calls a week” to prospective students he considers the key components of a robust corporate all over the world, he adds. culture, which has in recent years transcended from a In 2013, OSC won accreditation from the British buzzword to a business imperative: Harvard Business Accreditation Council, which “really helped as a seal of Review says that culture is “among the primary levers at approval”, says Hortyn. But in preparing for the accreditation top leaders’ disposal”. Phipps instead answers, allowing assessment, he and Phipps encountered a steep “learning his partner to tuck into the charred sea-dweller in front of him. “For us, it’s about creating a working environment in curve in terms of professionalisation” at a time when they were both working full-time jobs in high-intensity industries. which people feel motivated, rewarded and appreciated,” The requirement to brush up on safeguarding techniques says Phipps. “We keep a relatively flat structure and give and build policy frameworks devoured the pair’s evenings air time to everyone within the organisation, irrespective of their level.” His company’s remarkably low staff attrition and free time.

Still, things ticked over nicely, if frantically, between 2013 rate indicates efficacy: only one staff member has left in and 2015. Then, that year, came “a point of inflection” when the past two years. Underwood attests: “Rob and Harry’s the duo decided to quit their jobs and devote all of their passion has rubbed off on the entire company. I’ve never attention to OSC. Student numbers began to grow rapidly. seen anything like it before.”

From 2015 to 2016, OSC’s pupil base grew from 250 to 600; Across the table, Hortyn motions with his hands as he consequently, revenues were boosted by gulps down water to clear his mouth.

It’s clear that he has something to 125% to £2 million But “break-neck growth” within a add. “Progression and mentoring are short time-frame was “overly tough and really important, too,” when seeking For us, it’s about stressful”, says Hortyn, for himself, Phipps to incentivise staff, he says. “It’s creating a working and OSC’s staff. Fast-paced expansion crucial to define realistic goals, set out environment in placed in front of Hortyn and Phipps a responsibilities, build targets around host of managerial hurdles. In 2015, they them and conduct quarterly reviews so which people oversaw just three members of staff and you get a good sense of what people feel motivated, are doing relative to the goals set at contracted 60 freelance tutors. Now, five rewarded and years later, OSC employs 42 full-time the start of the year. The people we’ve appreciated staff at its head office and works with got in are ambitious; they want to see over 400 part-time tutors and pastoral the benefits of what they’re working on. staff. Somewhere in-between, Hortyn and As we develop, staff need to learn new Phipps had to build new staffing structures skills, make new relationships. and form from scratch departments that had hitherto not “Growth is about trying new things. The challenges that come with that can be enjoyable.” existed in order to cope with the rapidly swelling demand for OSC’s services. For a pair of relatively inexperienced business leaders, this was no mean feat.

Bridge over fresh water “In the old days, we were able to hire friends who we What are these “new things”, I ask, as our mains arrive. trusted and knew would be good,” says Hortyn. “But, since A courteous waiter places in front of me a succulent grilled salmon fillet atop a bed of “Piazzi-style” beans, whatever around 2017, we’ve had to legitimately test suitability for roles and at the beginning of each year plan full-scale they are. I admire Underwood’s salad from across the recruitment drives to source hundreds of temporary staff.” table, thinking how nicely it would complement my fish.

He draws his point back to autonomy. “To do this, you Back to business. First on the agenda is a rebrand of OSC’s have to have the right staff who know what to do and are holding company, under which it and all fresh ventures will sit. The duo landed on Bridgemark Education – a nod well-trained enough that they can get right the necessary to Oxbridge and “getting good marks”, says Hortyn – after processes to achieve this.” torpedoing several “amusing” suggestions from supposed Culture eats strategy for breakfast experts, including “Knowhere”. His reasoning: “You can’t By the time our starters arrive, we’ve just about finished answer the phone and say: ‘Hello, this is nowhere.’” Phipps’ rationale is less jocular: “Oxford Summer Courses as a tracing the roots of OSC and its growth-induced travails. I corporate identity doesn’t transfer well. We’ve expanded spear a sliver of masterfully cooked octopus tentacle and shovel onto it an unidentified purée, which is creamy in beyond that and needed a new wrapper.” taste, yellow in colour and silky in texture. Hortyn, the more In April, Bridgemark will launch O-Labs Education, a talkative of the two, builds on the notion of autonomy while series of STEM-focused workshops geared at UK-based Phipps, a tremendously fast eater, clears his plate within school-age students hosted at Imperial College London. what feels like a matter of seconds.

Costing roughly £300 each, the day classes will diversify

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the firm’s revenue streams by opening up access to I reflect briefly on the colourful conversation, which domestic students (at present, 90% of OSC’s revenues over the course of nearly two hours has covered a decade are derived from overseas students). “They’re designed for which OSC has been in operation. Having reached the to be bite-sized… and the lower price point means more 10-year mark, are Hortyn and Phipps interested in exiting?

The business would likely command tens of millions of UK students can get involved,” says Phipps. pounds; a sale would line their pockets for years to come.

In an effort to reach new countries and less-well-off Considering OSC’s position on The Sunday Times Fast Track students within them, Bridgemark has developed Melio, 100 list, I figure that private equity hawks are circling the an online educational platform through which students business. My hunch is correct. can access Oxbridge-qualified tutors. Lessons are likely “Lots of people want a piece of this,” says Hortyn. to cost around £80 to £150 an hour when the product “We’ve had a couple of coffees and conversations – mainly launches later this year. Online tuition also helps lessen, with private equity firms – but it’s not the right time for to an extent, Bridgemark’s carbon footprint. After all, it is in the business of flying in students from all corners of us. We’ve got so many new things kicking off. Rob and the world on a weekly basis, I keenly point out. “I guess I are both pretty young and energetic, and we want to the online courses are a hedge,” says Hortyn, against a see how far we can take it.” This is in reference to OSC. Other Bridgemark ventures, such as Melio and O-Labs potential rise in operating costs incurred from elevated air taxes imposed by climate-conscious governments.

Education, “may well be spun out in future or require He stresses that his firm “offsets” its carbon footprint private financing”, he adds. by purchasing carbon credits, which “we feel is about as I liken the development of Hortyn’s and Phipps’ business to that of a child: at 10 years old, it is approaching the much as we can do in the short term”.

To drive growth, Bridgemark is so-called troublesome teens. Phipps overhauling its approach to marketing responds: “I think we’ve gone through across the board. Historically, it has the troublesome teens and are now in relied heavily on online avenues to adulthood. A lot of the teething pains – We keep a relatively lure students to OSC and has thus the organisational structures, the working flat structure and patterns, the professionalisation of the shied away from using recruitment give air time to agents due to a “lack of bandwidth”, firm – are behind us.” Hortyn concurs. says Hortyn. (Using agents requires “We now have a solid foundation everyone within conducting due diligence on them.) on which we can build a diversified the organisation, This strategy is shifting, though. “We business.” irrespective of are becoming less reliant on digital I ask the pair what they think will their level marketing and doing more in terms differentiate the decade to come from the of indirect student recruitment,” he one that has passed. Hortyn summarises explains. “We need a team of wellsuccinctly his clear vision of success: connected people travelling, going “We want to get to 10,000 students a to conferences, meeting people and shaking hands.” year, be operational in every continent and have a robust Bridgemark now has a person “recruiting on the ground” online offering. And, we want to cater to every income in China, the largest feeder market of international bracket – from disadvantaged students with no money at students. “The internationalisation of our marketing will all to those taking the Rolls Royce course.” He’s all too be crucial because, ultimately, that feeds everything.” aware that meeting these goals will entail change. “If we In any educational sphere, student forecasting – the simply do more of the same, we won’t be here in 10 years’ practice of predicting future pupil numbers – is nigh-on time.” It’s now Phipps’ turn to agree with his partner. “We impossible to get right entirely. For OSC, which now pays regularly recalibrate and re-chart course. You might want to up front for rooms before filling them (the colleges wised get somewhere, but the wind will always change direction.” up with time), the ability to foresee student flows is vital.

I get the impression that Hortyn and Phipps rarely “We hired a forecasting consultant who said it was too disagree. Indeed, in my company they have on several difficult,” says Phipps. “So, we brought on an astrophysicist occasions finished one another’s sentences. As we’re who is basically building the matrix” – whose success settling the bill, I ask whether their relationship ever turns remains to be seen. fractious. Hortyn answers first: “Rob and I know each other too well. That’s not to say we don’t have arguments and Partnering for prosperity disagreements about things but, as important as the business As our mains are cleared, I order a coffee and agree to is to both of us, our friendship is more so.”

Phipps, who was best man at his business partner’s share with the table some baklava bites and karidopita, a type of walnut cake that is scented with orange and spices. wedding, adds: “Sometimes it’s healthy to have a good In an attempt to evade the almost inescapable post-lunch debate about things.” lull, I slurp my americano and seek a sugar-kick from the “Exactly,” says Hortyn. “As my gran always used to say, deliciously sticky, flaky baklava, which is so sweet that if you’re in a partnership and agree all of the time, then it borders on sickly. one of you is redundant.” n

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

29

EUROPE: MOVERS & SHAKERS

Setting the tone Ros Marshall joined childcare operator Bright Horizons as UK managing director this year. She tells Simone Rensch how music influenced her leadership style, and why a bout of chickenpox caused her to shift career paths

Ros Marshall, Bright Horizons

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EUROPE: MOVERS & SHAKERS

In Movers & Shakers, a quarterly series, EducationInvestor Global sits down with the most prominent women working across the wide world of education to talk about the dynamics shaping their industries and roles

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unning a company is a bit like conducting an religiously for auditions. But something got in the way: a orchestra. You have to unify all of the performers, bout of chickenpox. “In those days, you had to wait a full set the tempo, listen and shape the sound of the year to audition again, which, at the age of 17, seemed whole ensemble. You expect every musician to practise like a lifetime.” relentlessly and put in the hours. When it’s show time, So, she reluctantly changed tack. But the musical training you can only hope they are devoted to their performance, engrained creativity and high standards into the young woman, which, she says, has helped her rise to the top and to you. As the conductor, you must be confident that throughout her career. In fact, her leadership style was the orchestra will follow your lead. influenced by her piano teacher: “She had the ability to Leaders set the tone of an organisation and expect their inspire and motivate you to want to do things well and team to follow their lead – and some do this better than achieve for yourself. That’s probably the most important others. For Ros Marshall, who heads up the UK operations of early years provider Bright Horizons, musical training has trait that I use in my day-to-day leadership.” directly influenced her leadership style.

Perseverance and creativity, fuelled by Building a repertoire years of devoted training in her childhood After ridding herself of chickenpox, and teenage years, are engrained into her 17-year-old Marshall attended Guildford management approach.

College to pursue a management diploma In school, in institutional housekeeping and It’s a cold February morning when we I thought my meet at a central London hotel, where catering. Her reasoning: “I can always purpose was quiet lobby music plays as we chat. get a job feeding people if I can’t get to become a Marshall is just six weeks into her new a job entertaining people with music.”

For 25 years, Marshall worked in role as UK managing director of Bright concert pianist Horizons. She is a well-known face in various management roles, including the sector, having held senior roles at at contract catering company Sodexo, international schools chain Nord Anglia, where she became head of its education nursery operator kidsunlimited, and UAEdivision, which catered to schools and based international schools group Taaleem. Now, she leads education facilities in the UK. “Being in that space and the UK’s second-largest nursery group. seeing what was happening in the business of education Marshall’s route into the education sector was unorthodox. was really exciting to me,” she explains. After hitting a “In school, I thought my purpose was to become a concert glass ceiling, Marshall transferred into education when she pianist,” she recalls. With aspirations to study at the Royal was hired as the managing director of the learning services Academy of Music, a young Marshall was rehearsing division at Nord Anglia.

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EUROPE: MOVERS & SHAKERS

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Marshall became chief operations officer of the international school provider, overseeing international schools, its nursery businesses (which was later sold) and learning services. When the company was pulled from the London stock exchange in 2008 take-private deal, Marshall parted ways with the group.

After a short career break – during which she supported charitable causes and returned to her musical roots by supporting the National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain, of which she became a trustee – Marshall was in 2010 approached for the chief executive role of thenMarshall explains. “Many business leaders don’t like nursery group kidsunlimited, which at the time had 45 UK sites. “It needed some strong operational management,” saying ‘no’ to your face and there’s a lot of consultation Marshall recalls. She turned the businesses around within around every decision. I found the shareholders and local three-and-a-half years; investors got their money back – businessmen to be consultative by nature. They’ll always and more. In 2013, kidsunlimited, which by then had 65 ask for your advice or opinion, but then go off and make sites, was acquired by Bright Horizons. Marshall calls this their own decision.”

Sometimes, there were conflicts. “I recall one conversation the highlight of her career. “I think that was a defining with a board member who thought I was stubborn; I thought moment for us to actually take it across the line. Many I was principled. When I asked him how he wanted me to businesses don’t make it and we passed our due diligence change – he said he didn’t. When you work in education, tests and I felt secure in what we were passing on – we integrity is paramount and I wouldn’t didn’t have any skeletons in the closet, no nasty shocks or surprises. It was a deviate from that. As a chief executive, company that we were proud to integrate you’re not there to make friends. You’re with Bright Horizons.” there to run the business and do what’s Shortly after the sale, a recruiter called best for the students, their families and When you work in up Marshall and asked if she fancied the shareholders.” education, integrity running schools in Dubai. The decision There was some speculation in the is paramount to move was an easy one – her three market as to why Marshall left Taaleem and I wouldn’t daughters, who are now 28, 27 and 25, and Dubai last year. When pressed on her deviate from that reasoning, she says: “My contract was had left home and “it was time for mum and dad to leave home for a bit as well,” three plus two years, but I stayed for six she laughs. years. I never had an appraisal while I was there, despite asking for it. In November Shifting key 2018, when I completed five years there, Originally on a three-year contract as chief executive of I asked the board about the contract extension. Eventually, I Taaleem, Marshall and her husband took the leap and received a response in May 2019 and they informed me they moved to Dubai. (The first thing they bought – before had found someone else to take over from September 2019,” even a bed – was a piano.) Taaleem had nine schools when she says. “It could have been handled better in my view.”

Marshall joined in 2013 and 14 when she left (the fifteenth, which Marshall laid the foundations for, is opening in Abu It’s who you know…

Dhabi in September, she says.) During her five-year tenure, Coincidentally, Bright Horizons chief executive Stephen enrolments grew from just over 8,000 to 12,000.

Kramer, based in the US where the business is headquartered, contacted Marshall the same week she agreed to the Marshall sought to unite the organisation through its culture. “I’ve always said people work for people. How completion of her contract, to ask if she was ready to you treat people and how you expect to be treated are come back to the UK. As it happened, she was. connected to each other,” she explains. “You have to make Marshall re-joined the Bright Horizon family in January. sure that the values are embedded fully throughout the “People often say ‘never go back’, but I’m not actually organisation… and I think this did empower people with going back,” she stresses. “I’m going forward in my view, accountability and encouraged creativity, as the staff were because Bright Horizons UK is a bigger organisation and regularly coming up with new ideas.” is continuing to grow in the UK, where it has established But it wasn’t all upbeat. At times, Marshall found it hard itself as a major player.” working with Taaleem’s board comprising nine men from The move has kept her busy. “Bright Horizons is large and the region, all with different cultural backgrounds and complex, and there’s a lot to focus on.” The provider’s UK expectations. Then, there were the firm’s 102 shareholders to operation, whose more than 300 nurseries employs 10,000 manage. It wasn’t a question of sexism or ageism (Marshall staff, makes up about 25% of the overall business, which is 60), but mainly a matter of cultural differences. In the recently reported $2.06 billion in annual revenue, up from region, direct decision-making is not general practice, $1.9 billion in 2018.

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EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

EUROPE: MOVERS & SHAKERS

In the US, the company has been included in the Bloomberg 2020 Gender Equality Index for the first time this year, and is in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation 2020’s Corporate Equality Index for the 16th consecutive year. Over half of its board is female. “Diversity requires a balanced approach to decision-making,” says Marshall. “It’s always about finding the best talent. In the past, because women have usually been the ones to take advantage of flexible working and career breaks, circumstance can dictate where they end up in terms of promotion. However, we have consciously been looking at the opportunities for women and we practise what we preach.” Still, a significant gender pay gap remains at Bright Horizons, whose female staff’s mean hourly wage is 23.4% lower than their male counterparts’.

In response to this, Marshall says one must look beyond the statistics and consider flexible working (women make up to 89% of part-time workers at the organisation) and other factors that can influence diversity statistics.

Stiff competition In the UK, whispers in the market suggest that Bright Horizons has over the past year lost ground to more nimble private equity-backed nursery providers, which continue to gobble up single-site and cluster assets across targeted regions, helping them quickly gain ground in a race to scale. Marshall stresses that Bright Horizons hasn’t “been sleeping on the job – we’ve just been looking at where we can add value to help more working parents.

“Our approach hasn’t changed; I think it’s just a question of what has come to market and what has fitted our criteria.”

Bright Horizons also provides work and family solutions for corporate clients. “We see ourselves as much more than just a nursery provider,” she says, “providing solutions and support to families, offering emergency childcare places in our nurseries or in the family home, as well as elderly care services and professional advice and guidance.”

In a testament to Bright Horizons’ commitment to the UK market, Marshall is currently living out of a suitcase, travelling the country and visiting nurseries. “I want to see for myself what the challenges are, hear about the issues they are facing and determine how we can best help and support them,” she says.

Her cherished piano, which was shipped back from Dubai, has found a permanent residence, however, joining a sprawling collection whose members you need more than one hand to count. “They are a bit like children – all lovely in their own way – so I can’t get rid of any of them.”

Much as leaders are like conductors, nursery practitioners and teachers at the educational coalface must be devoted to their craft, like musicians. Marshall has huge empathy with educators, even though she, admittedly, is not a natural teacher. “You have to be full-on the whole time you are with the children, because they deserve that attention. So, it’s our job to make sure they have time-out to recharge.

“It’s similar to being a music performer – you have to practise thoroughly and when you go on stage to perform you have to be fully devoted and focused on your performance.” n

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EUROPE: PRIVATE EQUITY IN EDUCATION

Private matters Simone Rensch presents the best bits of this year’s Private Equity in Education conference

Going for growth – The role of venture capital in education

Emma Lancaster, Study Group

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Private matters – The burgeoning opportunity for buyout houses

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

EUROPE: PRIVATE EQUITY IN EDUCATION

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ore than 80 delegates gathered in London on 26 February at this publication’s ninth Private Equity in Education conference to explore opportunities and challenges facing the market.

Hot on the heels of Brexit, which was finalised at the end of January, it was apt that the keynote, delivered by Alex Canfor-Dumas, director of Flint Global, reflected on what was a defining year for UK politics, which saw the Conservative Party win a sweeping majority in parliament.

In the keynote, titled Politics, education and private equity, he said that the government has shifted its focus from higher education to further education, which presents flourishing opportunities for investors. “Higher education is not viewed by this Conservative government as a solution to the skills gap in this country,” said CanforDumas. “Further education is a political priority.”

Following the keynote, Anna Grotberg, associate partner at EY-Parthenon’s education practice, shared market insights in a presentation titled Train-and-gain: Consolidation in the UK apprenticeships market. She highlighted that the apprenticeships market remains highly fragmented, presenting an optimal environment for private equity roll-ups. “All the trends look positive if you’re investing behind the right business in the right part of the sector,” said Grotberg. Of the 1,395 apprenticeship businesses in the UK, 966 are private companies. She added that most of the “winning” models are large platforms, of which there are few. “If you are investing in the sector, really understanding the customer base you are investing in is critical.”

Uniting the first ever all-female panel at a Private Equity in Education conference, Kathryn Skelton, chief transformation officer of FutureLearn, chaired Going for growth: The role of venture capital in education. Rosie Bailey, chair of Enthuse, Melody Lang, chief executive of MPA Education, and EY-Parthenon’s Grotberg discussed how to strike a balance between educational and social impact and commercial gains. Lang believed it was possible to be both “for-profit and for good”. In this context, she added that she steers clear of the K12 and higher education sectors, which she said are “extremely challenging”. She instead focuses on corporate and life-long learning, as well as business services. At the venture capital level, one shouldn’t focus too much on EBITDA, added Grotberg, but should look at the fundamentals of a business, such as quality and outcomes.

Following a networking break, Emma Lancaster, chief executive of Study Group, a global pathway provider, explored her firm’s relationship with its private equity owner Ardian, which acquired the business last year. She said: “There is investment in this sector and we are under pressure to move at pace – which you have to do in a market that is rapidly growing.” The business is hoping that online learning will help it more quickly achieve scale.

Lancaster fielded questions from audience members around the impact the coronavirus outbreak (see pages 18-25) is having on Study Group’s operations; she said that the firm’s educational agents in China were worst affected.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Next, Alan Diaz, former senior vice president at Laureate Education, chaired a session titled Private matters: The burgeoning opportunity for buyout houses, which brought together John Forsyth, chief executive of Forfar Education; Andrew Cleland-Bogle, partner at EQT Credit; Jamie Edge, EMEA head of education and training M&A, EY Corporate Finance; and Fabrizia Rizzi, assistant director, Inflexion.

Discussing opportunities and pitfalls in the European education market, panellists agreed that demand for private education continues to rise. Forsyth said: “On paper, schools are very simple business… but to create a successful school is a barrier to entry. If you try to run a school from a spreadsheet, you’ll probably not survive.” On the other side of the coin, Rizzi said K12, as a sub-sector, has the highest barriers to entry – which can be “a good or a bad thing, depending on which side you’re on”, Diaz commented.

Imad Ghandour, co-founder and managing director of buyout house CedarBridge Partners, delivered a presentation titled Making the grade in MENA, sharing insights into opportunities in the Middle East and Africa, highlighting Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as promising jurisdictions.

“We are in the business of deploying money at good opportunities – and I think there are still opportunities in Dubai’s K12 market. There’s opportunity to buy schools constantly and to earn good returns.” Higher education in Saudi Arabia is still in its infancy and there’s “a huge opportunity that can be tapped”, he said.

The day concluded with a panel titled Leveraged buyouts through a management lens. Chaired by Andrew Steen, sales and marketing director at Altius Group, the panel united David Johnson, chief executive and founder of Just Childcare; Ruth Pimentel, chief executive at Kindred Nurseries; and Sarah Steel, managing director at the Old Station Nursery Group, who shared their experiences of private equity takeovers from a nursery market perspective.

Steel, a self-proclaimed “newbie” to the world of private equity, pointed to a dearth of knowledge in her sector about private equity, its benefits and pitfalls. Pimentel agreed, saying that going from a small nursery owner to working with private equity is “a totally different world”.

Steel said that it is key for private equity investors and operators to strike a balance between earnings potential and educational outcomes. However, panellists noted that the two factors are intrinsically linked. Johnson stressed the importance of safeguarding reputation: “You are looking after a family’s most precious asset… Reputation is the most crucial thing to all of us – reputation can kill your business.”

Drawing the day to a close, Steen asked panellists whether they thought the early years market will see a £100 million deal in 2020. Steel and Pimentel replied “no” right away.

Johnson, however, was more optimistic: “Who knows. It’s possible – but it’s likely to take another year or two… but it could happen.” n Event partner

Produced by

InvestorPublishing

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EUROPE: PRIVATE EQUITY IN EDUCATION

Alex Canfor-Dumas, Flint Global

Anna Grotberg, EY-Parthenon

Jamie Edge, EY Corporate Finance

Imad Ghandour, CedarBridge Partners

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EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

EUROPE: PRIVATE EQUITY IN EDUCATION

Alternative perspective – Leveraged buyouts through a management lens

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Rosie Bailey, Enthuse

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EUROPE: INDUSTRY VOICE

Corporate classrooms Professional learning platforms have transcended mandatory compliance training and entered a new realm in which large corporations are giving them millions of pounds to upskill staff.

CIL Management Consultants takes a look at this burgeoning corner of the global education market

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rom early years to corporate learning and development (L&D), interactive digital platforms have transformed the ways in which we learn. There is a growing number of advanced corporate e-learning solutions that support and improve an employee’s learning experience – and an employer’s ability to monitor that experience – leading to improved outcomes and a higher return on investment.

CIL surveyed 651 L&D decision-makers across North America and the UK to understand this growing market.

Our results show an increased focus on online learning solutions and recognition of their ability to offer scalable, cost-effective and consistent training to employees.

Upskilling and engaging the workforce CIL’s research found that around 90% of corporates in the US and UK currently use e-learning platforms with their employees. While a significant number, there remains substantial room for growth within the market as most organisations use e-learning for just a part of their training needs. We believe there are two key reasons that advanced e-learning platforms present a significant opportunity for businesses: upskilling and engaging the workforce.

E-learning has traditionally been an effective way to deliver compulsory, company-wide exercises at scale, such as compliance training. Newer, more versatile platforms, however, are upskilling the workforce in a broader range of skills. They focus on professional development and technical skills, providing personalised learning plans for individuals. For example, two-thirds of those surveyed currently use e-learning for soft skills training such as communication and leadership skills; just over half have begun to use it for more complex skills, such as sales, marketing and data analysis.

These platforms offer corporates the opportunity to view employee learning data, providing insights into their

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workforce at both an individual and group level. This data allows L&D teams to see how training solutions are being utilised across an organisation, while managers can use it to better understand the skills of their team.

They are also helping to engage the workforce by offering a more time-efficient way to learn, focusing on bite-sized ‘microlearning’, rather than classroom-based learning.

This is attractive to an increasingly time-poor workforce that prefers learning that fits into a hectic lifestyle.

Some of the more sophisticated platforms are gamified, using behavioural psychology to drive change and make corporate training social, competitive and fun. This can be by introducing social functions, such as sharing, to the forefront, or by creating a badging and certification system.

From ad-hoc purchases to long-term investment Distance or hybrid learning providers are usually the first step in an organisation’s e-learning journey. As a company becomes more committed to embedding L&D into their operations, they are more likely to make longer-term investments into customised platforms.

Distance and hybrid learning providers are not mutually exclusive. Employees may study for specific courses or qualifications using a mix of online modules and classroom lessons, weighted to whichever is more convenient. The corporate will likely pay for a selection of employees at a time, with a specific qualification or skill in mind, such as a project management qualification.

Learning management systems (LMSs) are a more sophisticated solution. Corporates purchase access to these and select modules from an online course catalogue or upload customised content, which is primarily driven by L&D teams. All employees will have access to the course catalogue, as relevant to them.

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EUROPE: INDUSTRY VOICE

Learning experience platforms or advanced learning management systems, however, extend the scope of learning beyond a predefined library of training modules to create a personalised experience for each employee. Although costeffective in the long term, advanced solutions do require significant upfront investment. Corporates with a dedicated, tech-savvy L&D team committed to addressing the skills gap and enhancing the employee experience are much more likely to transition to these platforms.

What do corporates seek from an e-learning solution?

Second only to cost reduction, enhancing the user experience and improving engagement is the main driver behind investing in e-learning. Searchability of content was the most sought-after feature for corporates in both the US and UK. User expectations of search are high and therefore search functions which wield poor results are simply not fit for purpose.

Data and user engagement analysis tools are also seen Advanced learning platforms as a priority. Advanced platforms have enhanced analysis Over the past decade, the LMS market has grown to a global tools that can help to draw powerful conclusions on the value of over $4 billion with most medium- and large-sized effectiveness of an organisation’s training programme. businesses adopting the technology. The Interactivity also proved significant; it was important that a platform includes LMS has proven useful for static, easily assessed data, but corporates are beginning social learning tools to allow employees to augment traditional platforms with to share their experiences with each complementary, advanced solutions which other. This feature blends with another Over the past provide the learning pathways desired by important criteria: the ability for users to decade, the LMS a changing workforce. generate content themselves. As nearly market has grown all the content on social media has been LMSs offer users the ability to select a to a global value user-generated, users have come to training module from a static repository of over $4 billion and have essentially digitalised analogue expect this feature from other digital processes, acting as an online bookshelf. platforms – and it helps to increase engagement.

While the organisation can monitor the uptake of compulsory training and ensure The e-learning market is fast-paced that it takes place, the user experience is and evolving with multiple market often lacking. LMSs provide a virtual learning environment players enabling innovation. It is helping to combat key designed with the administrator – rather than the user – in workforce threats, such as the growing skills gap and mind. CIL’s research indicates a shift in the interest of employee ‘stretch’, which is when an employee or staff corporate decision-makers towards interactive platforms, group are assigned tasks beyond their capabilities. And which can support continuous learning at scale. corporates are moving away from ad-hoc training purchases The key differentiator of these platforms is that the learning to long-term investment in advanced learning experience experience is truly user-led. They provide an intuitive Netflixplatforms with AI-enabled content recommendations. style interface and personalised content recommendations While the market remains fragmented, there are some curated from a wide range of sources. Smart learning notable players emerging and driving innovation. CIL platforms select material that is suitable for the users and views this sector as a substantial and growing opportunity directs them through a learning pathway which can be within the education sector, which we predict will reach adapted to the users’ learning style. mainstream adoption in the next five-to-10 years. n

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MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA: 10 MINUTES WITH…

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minutes with…

Reigate Grammar School Reigate Grammar School has set up shop in Casablanca on the back of an agreement between the UK and Moroccan governments that makes it easier for British education institutions to launch in the North African country. Headmaster Shaun Fenton shares his school’s expansion plans First, tell us a bit about Reigate Grammar School Founded in 1675, Reigate Grammar School (RGS) is a coeducational independent school for children aged 11 to 18. The RGS ‘family’ also includes two prep schools for children aged two to 11. Around 95% of RGS students receive offers from Oxbridge or Cambridge universities, or other top, research-intensive universities which are members of the Russell Group, medical schools or leading international universities. While a clutch of A* grades are important, we believe that future happiness and success depends upon qualities of character rather than a fistful of qualifications. RGS was named School of the Year for Wellbeing and Pastoral Care in the prestigious Times Educational Supplement awards last year. The verdict of the Good Schools Guide, the leading reference book for the independent schools sector, was “happy kids, great results”. We’ll take that!

What are the main reasons behind your school’s international expansions?

If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a global village to educate a global citizen.

At RGS, we believe that this starts with a network of international schools.

In China, the first school, in Nanjing, has already opened a kindergarten, and further building work has just been completed.

It will grow to have a student body of 2,400 students from three years old to sixth form, with boarding provision for many. The second school, RGS Zhangjiagang, is near Shanghai. RGS has also

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agreed to have a collaborative relationship with a Chinese state school as a “sister school”, Zhixin High School, in Guangzhou.

These partnerships offer our British students, their parents and alumni new opportunities to network, develop relationships and form friendships that cross continents, which would never otherwise have been formed. Students and teachers are able to enjoy placements and secondments overseas and the partnerships allow us to have a much more authentic visits programme because they’re based on enduring, long-term relationships. Our teachers can learn with and from teachers around the planet to develop a new paradigm of world-class education.

Creating, for example, Anglo-Chinese links between young people and school communities will promote empathy, understanding, tolerance and friendship – and that must be better than the alternatives. Our world benefits from crosscultural collaboration. Different countries have different curriculum content and some of that difference presents challenges to UK schools working in collaboration. All our international schools follow a British curriculum with A-levels – and most take iGCSEs. Should we avoid educational partnerships involving countries where there might be controversies about human rights and political freedoms? I totally appreciate the difficult issues here and it is a controversy that challenges the governing body at my school significantly. I believe that more good will come from talking than from silence; from engagement rather than isolation; from education rather than ignorance.

For that reason, I choose to see education as a bridgehead.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA: 10 MINUTES WITH…

Shaun Fenton, Reigate Grammar School

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

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Essential reading for education companies worldwide What is EducationInvestor Global?

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GLOBAL: 10 MINUTES WITH…

Let’s talk about Morocco. Reigate Grammar School is the first UK independent school to open in Morocco. Can you tell us about the plans and partnership there?

We will be in partnership with the British International School of Casablanca and then open at least two more schools across Morocco, in Tangiers and Rabat. This is a full and effective partnership, under whichwe will learn with and from each other.

Our Morocco schools will each eventually have an intake of 1,300.

Each project is different and fit for purpose. We will not compromise on educational values but we will develop agile operational models. I have always believed that qualities and ethos are more important than structures.

Much of the RGS ethos translates to any educational setting as we look to build the school around the child and prepare them to make the world a better place as they move beyond their schooldays.

Can you share the financial model for the expansion?

We have a flexible business model, though in China and Morocco it has essentially been via a managed franchise approach where we provide our brand, intellectual property, knowledge, educational services and quality assurance.

What makes Morocco an attractive destination for your school?

one main chance of an education and we must get it right. We cannot compromise the quality of education for the sake of a poor business model or a lack of alignment between the partners about the importance of educational values around pastoral care, personalisation, the importance of education technology, and more. We have been fortunate to find excellent and aligned partners in Asia and Africa, but that has only come about through painstaking due diligence and through considering many more projects that, on closer inspection, we felt unable to commit to.

Following the partnership between the UK and Morocco, a number of education institutions are thinking about setting up in Morocco. Did this partnership, and political desire to get more British schools to Morocco, play a role in your move?

Morocco is a rapidly developing nation experiencing very good economic growth and a government keen to collaborate and to raise educational standards. Morocco is a good friend of the UK and open for trade and innovation. As a gateway to Africa, it has a strategic role in the region and it is a country with a rich cultural heritage which has identified English as being the language of business. There is an appetite for change and recognition of the quality of British education. Our schools in Morocco will be similar in that they provide a kindergarten-to-sixth form education and are fully co-educational, though pupil numbers in total will be lower than our schools in China.

The recent bilateral agreement between the UK and Morocco governments has been extremely important and helpful in moving the project forward.

We have benefitted from a new awareness and commitment to the educational and business values of partnerships between the two countries and worked closely with the British Embassy and the Department for International Trade. We are delighted to be the first educational partnership in Morocco and look forward to many more being announced as our two countries work ever-more closely together.

Morocco’s education market is different to the UK and you must have had to adapt to the local market. How does the price points of the Moroccan school compare to your UK fees, which range between £6,380 and £6,450 a term?

There will be significant financial benefits that will help us expand our bursary provision, invest in new facilities for the school and the local community, hold down fee levels for parents, and undertake new partnership activities. In the UK, we are committed to making an RGS education available to those who would benefit, irrespective of financial circumstances. Our partnerships will always be about value measured in terms of life chances and educational opportunities rather than dollars.

There are many ways to deliver quality of education and fees have to match the market conditions. The schools in Morocco will have a lower price point than our UK school but will share our DNA, our quality input for curriculum design, pedagogy, pastoral care, extracurricular programmes, staff training, and more. Our international partnerships have never been about price points so we did not need to alter our overall strategy to accommodate price changes. Our strategy has been about values, partnership and educational quality. We haven’t compromised on that and our partners share the same high standards.

What has been the biggest challenge expanding internationally and what challenges do you foresee your school facing in the near future?

We have spent a great deal of time with the senior leadership teams and boards of governors to ensure that we work with good partners on the right projects. We have 350 years of educational excellence and reputation in the UK to protect. And, more importantly, children get

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

How will the international expansions help Reigate Grammar School financially?

In your opinion, what are the key factors for global success for a British independent school?

That the children educated in our UK and international partnership schools will benefit. In our international partnership schools, such as RGS Nanjing, the schools will reflect and respect the cultural and political environment of the host country and their added value proposition is to prepare young people to have the skills, attitudes, knowledge and understanding to undertake degree level study in the US, UK, Canada or Australasia. These young Chinese adults will need to have open and enquiring minds, be globally aware, and have a sophisticated outlook. I believe that such qualities of character will benefit the young people, the countries where they take their degree, and their homeland when they return from their studies ready to take on 21st century leadership roles. n

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MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA: BUSINESS WOMEN IN EDUCATION

Kingdom of hope Educators’ eyes are focusing on opportunities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, says Pam Mundy, Business Women in Education founding member and an independent educational consultant. In this contribution, she offers a street-level view of the controversial market, hitting back at consensus that it is not welcoming to Western women

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EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA: BUSINESS WOMEN IN EDUCATION

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etworking events are often highly entertaining, potentially good for business, yet rarely lifechanging – or so I thought. Last year, I attended an EducationInvestor Global event. One conversation, one follow-up coffee, and I have the privilege of being one of the founding members of this publication’s Business Women in Education Network. I can testify to a complete change of opinion. Having deliberately avoided similarly titled genderfocused organisations, from the naïve perspective that my gender should neither be the barrier to opportunity nor the reason for it being offered, the discussions resulting from the network powerfully indicate otherwise. Add to this my work in the K12 space, with specialism in early childhood education, which often compounds the perception of many operators and investors.

In terms of the place of women in business and education, perhaps one of the most controversial territories has always been Saudi Arabia.

Whose views?

Social media has offered a variety of opinions from which one can select a preferred stance and, until relatively recently, there has been a marked reluctance to venture into Saudi Arabia from both investment and operational standpoints. But being curious by nature and, on a dark, wet and windswept January day in 2009, the prospect of a first working visit to the country was a welcome distraction from the UK winter. A new location, new clients and the opportunity to work with an established British international school all contributed to the potential for positive outcomes and further business opportunities. Interestingly, the impending visit was the initiator of a range of uninvited opinions from both professional colleagues and personal contacts.

The consensus of opinion seemed to be that if one professed to support the rights of women and children, then this was not the place to visit and certainly not to do business. The choice, it seems, is to subscribe to what may be seen as biased views and turn away, or to take the opportunity to be part of the new dawn, the Saudi 2030 vision. I chose the latter. Experiences on this visit failed to bear witness to those biased opinions. Having carefully researched and taken guidance on respectful dress, religious and cultural expectations, each working visit since then has been both professionally rewarding and commercially successful.

There were, of course, certain restrictions that I accepted – there are laws in every country! People were warm, welcoming, incredibly polite and with enormous integrity in all business negotiations. Never, in many years of international travel, has an immigration officer been quite so welcoming, nor suggested that heavy baggage could be carried on my behalf (not that I accepted). I am equally aware that what I share here is my own experience of KSA and that others may disagree. I can only be honest.

A different lens?

Education has always been at a premium in Saudi Arabia – and never more so than now. Having hosted delegations from the Saudi Ministry of Education in the UK on several occasions since then, there is an emphasis on high-quality

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

education for national and international students, and a particular focus on the development of early childhood education. It is true that since my first arrival in Dammam, and many subsequent visits to other locations in the country, there have been major developments in opportunities and social standing for women and considerable expansion in the education market, most of which are widely publicised.

The Saudi market has a large, young population in Gulf terms of over 34 million, which in itself offers major scope for business expansion. It offers huge opportunities for financially viable, indeed, lucrative business development. Even the Hilton Group has announced plans to operate more than 50 hotels, with a total of 16,000 rooms across the country within the next five years as a result of the government’s Vision 2030.

There’s also scope for high-impact educational operations and investment, but some are still nervous of identifying this location as a prime area for growth and expansion. Conversely, high-end sporting and music events, and business and education summits are already lining up to enter Saudi. This is evidence, in contradiction to social media-driven opinions, that the market is opening up. In the words of the travel writer Deborah Cater: “You have to taste a culture to understand it.”

An open invitation?

One key opportunity for open-minded and future-oriented education investors and operators is currently arising through the building of Neom, described as a “futuristic cross-border mega-city”. With the aim of bringing together dynamic developments in Saudi technology, innovation and with a focus on sustainable living and working for both expat and national communities, it is located in the Northwest of Saudi Arabia, bordering the Red Sea. The scale of the project is phenomenal, offering immense opportunity for business and for potential school operators. Currently, one school is in progress, with plans for 150 more over the next decade as part of the 2030 vision.

The intention is to create opportunities for education organisations that are able to do something unique, to innovate, test out ideas, apply and conduct research in a ‘living laboratory’. Those leading the Neom project are inviting existing operators or newly established and exploratory ones to make a pitch. The proviso is that it must be those who can bring together the most unique and innovative elements of international education programmes and learning approaches, to invent that which does not yet exist – a chance to create a seismic shift in both Saudi and global education that can come in many forms – starting from the earliest years (a key focus in the Saudi market) through to tertiary education.

For investors, rather than simply ‘chasing the riyal’, this (and Saudi as a whole) is an incredible opportunity to fund the highest-quality education for both national and international students; to be part of a new Saudi partnership era and (literally) a world-changing project. For educational operators, the opportunities are equally attractive.

Alternatively, it can be left as a missed opportunity, satisfying the sentiment expressed in the words of an expat school leader, who is the principal of a very successful international school in Saudi Arabia: “Please don’t tell anyone how good life is here – we don’t want everyone coming in.” n

Business Women in Education Network

CONTACT US TO JOIN THE NETWORK

For more information: ipevents.net/ business-womeneducation

Business Women in Education

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FINANCE: DEALS

deals 3B Scientific acquires iSimulate COMPANY: 3B Scientific TARGET: iSimulate TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Hamburg-based 3B Scientific, which manufactures and markets anatomical models and medical simulation products for healthcare and patient education is acquiring medical simulation company iSimulate. 3B Scientific is a portfolio company of J.H. Whitney Capital Partners. Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher and Clayton Utz are legal advisors to 3B Scientific and J.H. Whitney Capital Partners. Schwartz Heslin Group is acting as a financial advisor to iSimulate, and Pepper Hamilton and MinterEllison are legal advisors to iSimulate.

Chinese investors snap up Cambridgeshire grammar school COMPANY: Access (UK) Education TARGET: Wisbech Grammar School TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Brighton-based Access (UK) Education has bought Wisbech Grammar School in Cambridgeshire, the Wisbech Standard has reported.

Adjacent Academies raises $2.1m COMPANY: Adjacent Academies TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: $2.1 million San Francisco-based Adjacent Academies, which enables liberal arts students to earn college credit while building up their tech skills, has closed a seed round led by Rethink Education with additional participation by New Ground Ventures, Bisk Ventures and Entangled Group.

AdmitHub raises more funding COMPANY: AdmitHub TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Boston-based AdmitHub, the developer of a conversational artificial intelligence platform used by more than 90 educational institutions, has secured investments from Salesforce Ventures and the Google Assistant investment program.

Algeco acquires school space firm COMPANY: Algeco Group TARGET: Net Modular TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed London-based modular space rental firm Algeco Group has acquired Rutherforn, New South Wales-based Net Modular, which specialises in manufacturing and servicing modular buildings for schools.

Apax Partners to acquire Cadence Education COMPANY: Apax Partners TARGET: Cadence Education TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Apax Partners has agreed to acquire Scottsdale, Arizona-based Cadence Education, a provider of early childhood education in North America, from Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Debevoise & Plimpton was legal advisor, and William Blair and Lazard Middle Market were financial advisors to Morgan Stanley Capital Partners. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett was legal advisor to Apax Partners.

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FINANCE: DEALS

Banyan Software acquires School Pathways COMPANY: Banyan Software TARGET: School Pathways TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Atlanta-based Banyan Software, which acquires growing enterprise software businesses, has acquired Portola, California-headquartered School Pathway, which provides a web-based student information system for independent study and online schools.

Boxlight receives further investment from The Lind Partners COMPANY: Boxlight Corporation TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: $750,000 Lawrenceville, Georgia-based Boxlight Corporation, a provider of interactive technology solutions for the global education market, is to receive from Lind Global Macro Fund, LP, an investment fund managed by The Lind Partners, a New York-based institutional fund manager. The funding means Lind Global Macro Fund, LP has now provided $6 million to Boxlight during the past 12 months.

Brentwood Associates acquires Parchment COMPANY: Brentwood Associates TARGET: Parchment TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Los Angeles-based middle market private equity investment firm Brentwood Associates has acquired Scottsdale, Arizona-based Parchment, a digital credential service allowing learners, academic institutions and employers to request, verify, and share credentials in simple and secure ways. Goldman Sachs & Co was financial advisor and Quarles & Brady provided legal counsel to Parchment. Brentwood was represented by Shearman & Sterling.

Busuu acquires Verbling COMPANY: Busuu TARGET: Verbling TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Busuu, a London-based language-learning platform, has acquired Verbling, a San Francisco, California-headquartered live video tutoring company, for a double-digit million amount, Finsmes has reported.

Busy Bees acquires 15-setting group COMPANY: Busy Bees TARGET: EduKids TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed UK-based nursery group Busy Bees has acquired West Seneca-based EduKids, an early childhood education and day care operation that grew to 15 locations in Western New York state, The Buffalo News has reported.

UK’s largest nursery operator acquires setting in Kent COMPANY: Busy Bees TARGET: Squiggles Childcare TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Busy Bees, the UK’s largest nursery operator, has acquired Sevenoaks-based Squiggles Childcare, in a deal brokered by Redwoods Dowling Kerr.

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Coassemble raises $4.4m in Series A funding COMPANY: Coassemble TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: $4.4 million Newcastle, New South Wales-based Coassemble, which provides online training for corporates, has raised Series A funding round led by Equity Venture Partners and advised by Clinton Capital Partners.

Colibri Group invests in Hondros Education Group COMPANY: Colibri Group TARGET: Hondros Education Group TRANSACTION: Investment CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Providence, Rhode Island-based Colibri Group, an education company that provides online learning to licensed professionals, has invested in Hondros Education Group, a provider of professional education based in Westerville, Ohio.

Digital Vidya acquires Delhi School of Internet Marketing COMPANY: Digital Vidya TARGET: Delhi School of Internet Marketing TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed New Dehli-based Digital Vidya, a provider of training for digital marketing, has acquired Delhi School of Internet Marketing in an all-cash deal, VC Circle has reported.

Diversified Search acquires Storbeck Search & Associates COMPANY: Diversified Search Group TARGET: Storbeck Search & Associates TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Philadelphia-based education executive search firm Diversified Search Group has acquired fellow educational search firm Storbeck Search & Associates, headquartered in Media, Pennsylvania.

Doubtnut raises $15m COMPANY: Doubtnut TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: $15 million Gurgaon-based start-up Doubtnut, which provides an app to help children learn maths and science via short videos, has raised Series A funding in a round led by Chinese conglomerate Tencent, Tech Crunch has reported. Existing investors Omidyar Network India, Sequoia Capital India, AET Fund and angel investor Ankit Nagori also participated.

Dukes Education absorbs London-based schools group COMPANY: Dukes Education TARGET: House Schools Group TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Dukes Education, a UK-based operator of premium private schools, has acquired House Schools Group, a cluster of three independent schools in London – Prospect House School in Putney, Orchard House School in Chiswick, and Bassett House School in Kensington.

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FINANCE: DEALS

Embibe raises funding from Reliance Industries COMPANY: Embibe TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: 90 crore rupees (£6.7 million) Mumbai-based ed tech start-up Embibe has raised funding from Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries, Inc42 has reported. Embibe says it leverages artificial-intelligence-based data analytics to personalise learning outcomes.

Encantos raises $2m in oversubscribed seed round COMPANY: Encantos TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: $2 million Culver City, California-headquartered Encantos, a direct-to-consumer family entertainment education company, has closed an oversubscribed seed round led by Kapor Capital, with participation from Boston Meridian Partners, Chingona Ventures, the Goldhirsh Foundation, Human Ventures, and MathCapital. Several existing and new angel investors also participated in the round, including Tom Chavez, Rich Greenfield, Lydia Jett, Michael Kassan, and Antonio Lucio.

Frontenac backs XanEdu COMPANY: Frontenac TARGET: XanEdu TRANSACTION: Private equity investment CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Frontenac, a Chicago-based private equity firm, has announced a major investment in XanEdu, a developer of custom content solutions for US colleges and universities and school districts. Honigman was legal counsel to Frontenac on the transaction. Dickinson Wright was legal counsel and East Wind Advisors acted as financial advisor to XanEdu. Monroe Capital announced it acted as sole lead arranger and administrative agent on the funding.

Merger of iae China and GEA via acquisition COMPANY: Global Education Technologies TARGET: iae China and the Global Education Alliance TRANSACTION: Merger CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Global Education Technologies, a Chinese investment company, has acquired a majority stake in two large education agency businesses – iae China and the Global Education Alliance, The Pie News has reported. The acquired firms are international student recruitment companies with significant presences in China.

Hyland acquires Learning Machine COMPANY: Hyland TARGET: Learning Machine TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Westlake, Ohio-based enterprise content management company Hyland has acquired New York city-based Learning Machine, a blockchain credentialing start-up that grew out of the MIT Labs, Ledger Insights has reported.

ILAC acquires Canadian Tourism College and Sterling College COMPANY: International Language Academy of Canada TARGET: Canadian Tourism College and Sterling College TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed International Language Academy of Canada has acquired Canadian Tourism College and Sterling College. Located in Vancouver and Surrey, British Columbia, Canadian Tourism College offers travel and tourism, hospitality and flight attendant programmes. Sterling College has campuses in Vancouver and Surrey and Lethbridge, Alberta. Programmes include postgraduate certificates in nursing and business.

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InterviewBit raises $20m COMPANY: InterviewBit TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: More than $20 million Bangalore-based InterviewBit, a start-up company that provides its clients with an online training module for programming, has raised a Series A round led by Sequoia India and Tiger Global, with participation by Global Founders Capital and some others.

PE-backed Juniper Education acquires Maze Education COMPANY: Juniper Education TARGET: Maze Education TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Private equity-backed Juniper Education, based in Chelmsford, Esssex, has snapped up online assessment and reporting provider Maze Education, based in Doncaster.

K12 snaps up coding bootcamp in $165m deal COMPANY: K12 TARGET: Galvanize TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: $165 million Herndon, Virginia-based online education company K12 has acquired coding bootcamp Galvanize, based in Denver, Colorado.

Kendall Hunt to buy Paradigm Education Solutions COMPANY: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company TARGET: Paradigm Education Solutions TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Dubuque, Iowa-based Kendall Hunt Publishing Company is acquiring St Paul, Minnesota-headquartered Paradigm Education Solutions, a provider of post-secondary print and digital learning solutions, from Carnegie Learning, a learning technology company based in Pittsburgh.

Risk Strategies acquires Academic HealthPlans COMPANY: Risk Strategies TARGET: Academic HealthPlans TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Risk Strategies, a private national insurance brokerage and risk management firm, has acquired Academic HealthPlans, which creates and administers health insurance plans that colleges and universities make available to their students.

Sovos acquires Booke Seminars COMPANY: Sovos TARGET: Booke Seminars TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Global tax software provider Sovos has acquired Booke Seminars, which provides educational seminars to employees of insurance companies and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on topics across the property, casualty, life and health insurance sectors. Booke is headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Sovos is based in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

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FINANCE: DEALS

Storal Learning purchases Wiltshire nursery COMPANY: Storal Learning TARGET: Barney Lodge Day Nursery TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed English nursery operator Storal Learning has acquired Barney Lodge Day Nursery in Warminster, Wiltshire, a modernised detached building with garden, which has capacity for about 70 children from vendor Lynn Ashton. Specialist business property advisor Christie & Co handled the sale.

Barcan Kirby provided legal advice

Study Group is to acquire Insendi COMPANY: Study Group TARGET: Insendi TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed Sydney-based international education provider Study Group is acquiring London-headquartered learning experience platform developer Insendi.

The Preiss Company and Investcorp sign student accommodation joint venture COMPANY: The Preiss Company and Investcorp TARGET: Signature West Midtown TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: Undisclosed The Preiss Company, a privately-held student housing owner-operator, and Investcorp, a global provider and manager of alternative investment products, have announced the joint venture acquisition of the 525-bed Signature West Midtown student housing complex in Atlanta, Georgia. The Preiss Company is based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Investcorp is headquartered in Bahrain.

Top Hat raises $55m in Series D funding COMPANY: Top Hat TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: $55 million Toronto-based higher education learning platform Top Hat has raised Series D equity and debt financing, in a round co-led by existing investors Georgian Partners and Inovia Capital. The rest of Top Hat’s existing equity investors also participated, including Union Square Ventures, Emergence Capital and Leaders Fund.

Udemy secures $50m from Benesse Holdings COMPANY: Udemy TRANSACTION: Fundraising CONSIDERATION: $50 million San Francisco-based online education business Udemy has announced that its long-time partner in Japan, Benesse Holdings, has agreed to invest in the company which is valued at $2 billion.

Workforce Holdings to acquire Chartall Business College COMPANY: Workforce Holdings TARGET: Chartall Business College TRANSACTION: Acquisition CONSIDERATION: 34.88 million rand (£1.8 million) Johannesburg-based investment holding company Workforce Holdings is acquiring Chartall Business College in Johannesburg, IOL has reported.

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company results 2U Lanham, Maryland-based 2U is an education technology company.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 NET LOSS:

$235.2 million

L

2018: $38.3 million

REVENUE:

$574.7 million

+39.6%

2018: $411.8 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also reported results for the fourth quarter of 2019. Its net loss for the period was $44.6 million, compared to net income of $4.8 million reported for Q4 2018.

• Revenue for the quarter was $163.2 million, up from $115.1 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2018.

2U co-founder and chief executive Christopher Paucek: “Over the past year, with the addition of our boot camp and undergraduate offerings, we have opened up significant new market segments, more than doubled our client base, and now deliver a portfolio of over 400 career-relevant, high-quality product offerings. Our recent expansion of 2U’s relationship with the University of London and the London School of Economics and Political Science is a testament to the strength of our partnerships and will allow us to power a compelling mix of seven bachelor’s degrees.”

Adtalem Global Education Downers Grove, Illinois-based Adtalem Global Education is a global education provider.

PERIOD COVERED: Second quarter of 2020 fiscal year, ending 31 December, 2019 NET INCOME: REVENUE:

$5.5 million

– 68.1%

2019: $17.3 million

$266.2 million

+4.8%

2019: $254 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also reported results for the first six months of its fiscal year. Net income for the six-month period was $19.9 million, up from $7.8 million reported for the first six months of its 2019 fiscal year.

• Revenue for the period was $520.8 million, up from $490.9 million reported for the first six months of fiscal year 2019.

Adtalem president and chief executive Lisa Wardell: “During the second quarter, we delivered revenue and earnings per share in line with our expectations as we continued our strategic investments in expanding our offerings and optimising our marketing and recruitment efforts as part of our transformation into a leading workforce solutions provider.”

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FINANCE: RESULTS

American Campus Communities Austin, Texas-based American Campus Communities is a publicly-traded real estate investment trust that invests in dormitory housing.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 NET INCOME:

$86.8 million

–27.2%

2018: $119.1 million

REVENUE:

$943 million

+7.1%

2018: $880.8 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also reported results for the fourth quarter of 2019. Net income for the period was $25.8 million, down from $49.6 million in net income reported for the fourth quarter of 2018.

• Revenue for the period was $255.8 million, up from $245.9 million reported for Q4 2018.

American Campus Communities chief executive Bill Bayless: “2019 was a successful year for American Campus in many areas – we raised our earnings guidance and performed at the high end of our net operating income expectations, set company records in revenue and FFOM per share, and produced our 15th consecutive year of growth in same store rental rate, rental revenue and net operating income.”

Blue Bird Corporation Macon, Georgia-based Blue Bird Corporation is an independent designer and manufacturer of school buses.

PERIOD COVERED: First quarter of fiscal year 2020, ending 4 January, 2020 NET LOSS: NET SALES:

($400,000)

L

2019: ($1.2 million)

$153.2 million

– 1.1%

2019: $154.9 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • Bus unit sales were 1,460 units, down from 1,600 units in Q1 2019.

• First quarter gross profit of $21.3 million was an increase of $2.2 million from Q1 2019.

Blue Bird Corporation president and chief executive Phil Horlock: “We are very pleased with our first quarter. The combination of continued growth in alternative-fuelled bus sales and our focus on driving higher revenue, contributed to an increase in average selling price per bus of more than $5,000, or 6% over last year’s first quarter.”

Bright Horizons Family Solutions Watertown, Massachusetts-based Bright Horizons Family Solutions is a childcare and early education group.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 NET INCOME: REVENUE:

$180.4 million

+14.2%

2018: $158 million

$2.06 billion

+8.3%

2018 $1.9 billion

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also reported results for the fourth quarter of 2019. Its net income for the period was $47.8 million, up from $46.7 million reported for Q4 2018.

• Revenue for the quarter was $520.6 million, up from $478.2 million reported Q4 2018.

Bright Horizons chief executive Stephen Kramer: “We are pleased to report strong financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2019. Our solid financial results in 2019 reflect the positive momentum across our business and the results from recent investments we have made in our people and systems to strengthen our market position.”

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Chegg Santa Clara, California-based Chegg is an online textbook retailer.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 NET LOSS: NET REVENUE:

($9.6 million)

L

2018: ($14.9 million)

$410.9 million

+28%

2018: $321.1 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • The Santa Clara, California-based company also reported results for the fourth quarter of 2019, ending 31 December, 2019. Its net income for the quarter was $8.2 million, compared to net income of $5.3 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2018.

• Revenue for the quarter was $125.5 million, up from $95.7 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2018.

Chegg chief executive Dan Rosensweig: “2019 was a fantastic year for Chegg. Total revenue grew 28% year-over-year and we exceeded our profitability expectations, driven by leverage from our subscription services. Our strategy to provide direct-to-student services supporting millions of learners continues to deliver fantastic results and we couldn’t be more excited about 2020.”

CIBT Education Group CIBT Education Group is a Vancouver-based investor in student accommodation.

PERIOD COVERED: First quarter of 2020 fiscal year, ending 30 November, 2019 NET INCOME: REVENUE:

C$210,00 (£122,000)

– 91%

2019: C$2.2 million

C$17.1 million

0%

2019: C$17.1 million

CIBT president, chairman and chief executive Toby Chu: “In Q1 2020, we were pleased to see that our largest education subsidiary, Sprott Shaw College, saw revenues increase while earnings before inter-segment transactions also increased over the same period in the prior year. On the other hand, rental income continues to be our fastest area of revenue growth. With our adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation at $3.344 million for the first three months, we are confident in our company’s overall outlook for the remainder of this fiscal year.”

Grand Canyon Education Phoenix, Arizona-based Grand Canyon Education is an education services company.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 NET INCOME:

$259.2 million

+13.2%

2018: $229 million

NET REVENUE:

$778.6 million

– 7.9%

2018: $845.5 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also reported results for the fourth quarter of 2019. Net income for the period was $76.7 million, compared to $75.5million reported for the fourth quarter of 2018.

• Net revenue for period was $213.2 million, compared to $177.5 million reported for Q4 2018.

Grand Canyon Education president and chief executive Brian Mueller: “We are very excited about GCE’s direction relative to the challenges facing students, families and the industries we are serving. In 2020, GCE’s 23 partner institutions project to produce over 30,000 graduates, over 11,000 healthcare professionals, 7,700 education professionals, 4,600 in the business world, 3,600 in behavioural health, 2,500 in public service, social science and theology, and 600 in engineering and computer science.”

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FINANCE: RESULTS

GSX Techedu Beijing-based GSX Techedu is an online K12 large-class after-school tutoring service provider in China.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 NET INCOME: NET REVENUE:

¥226.6 million (£25 million)

+1,053.3%

2019: ¥19.65 million

¥1.58 billion

+520.3%

2019: ¥254.6 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also announced its results for the fourth quarter of 2019. Its net income for the period was ¥174.5 million, compared to net income of ¥23 million reported for Q4 2019.

• Revenue for the quarter was ¥935 million, up from ¥182.3 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2018.

GSX Techedu founder, chairman and chief executive Larry Xiangdong Chen: “As you can see from the stellar performance, GSX came a long way in the fourth quarter of 2019 by many measures. We take great pride in seeing our revenues and gross billings growth occupying leading position in the online education industry. From the beginning, we have been offering our customers compelling value by focusing on online live large-class business.”

Horace Mann Educators Corporation Springfield, Illinois-based Horace Mann Educators Corporation is an educational financial services, life assurance and pensions company.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 NET INCOME: REVENUE:

$184.4 million

+924.4%

2018: $18.3 million

$1.43 billion

+20%

2018: $1.19 billion

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also reported results for the fourth quarter of 2019. Net income for the period was $33 million, compared to a net loss of $20.3 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2018.

• Revenue for the period was $331.4 billion, up from $278.5 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2018.

Horace Mann president and chief executive Marita Zuraitis: “I’m very proud of the Horace Mann team and the results we achieved in 2019. As we celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary in 2020, we are successfully implementing our strategic initiatives and have set the stage to further our corporate vision. We look forward to leveraging our market leadership position to serve the financial needs of even more educators. Deepening our market penetration will lead to accelerated shareholder value creation and achievement of our long-term objective of a double-digit return on equity.”

K12 Herndon, Virginia-based K12 Inc is an education company that sells online schooling and curricula for pre-K through to high school students.

PERIOD COVERED: Second quarter of 2020 fiscal year, ending 31 December, 2019 NET INCOME: REVENUE:

$20.6 million

– 13.1%

2019: $23.7 million

$257.6 million

+1.1%

$254.9 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also announced results for the six months ending 31 December, 2019. Net income for the period was $10.9 million, down from $15.4 million reported for the six months ending 31 December, 2018.

• Revenue for the period was $514.7 million, up from $506.2 million reported for the prior six-month period.

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Mayfield Childcare Mayfield Childcare is a Malvern, Victoria-based early years childcare provider.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 TOTAL COMPREHENSIVE INCOME: REVENUE:

A$3.3 million [£1.7 million]

– 21.7%

2018: A$4.3 million

A$35.9 million

+13.9%

2018: A$31.5 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • Added one childcare centre to the portfolio in 2019.

• Slightly improved pricing and modest occupancy growth of 0.5%.

Mayfield chief executive Dean Clarke: “From Mayfield’s perspective the sector challenges – of the past few years are moderating. Supply in Victoria for the most part eased throughout 2019, with reduced supply growth evident in the geographical areas in which Mayfield operates.”

OneSmart International Education Group Shanghai-based OneSmart International Education Group is an after-school K12 education services provider.

PERIOD COVERED: First quarter of fiscal year 2020 ending 30 November, 2019 NET LOSS:

(¥109.7 million) [£12.1 million]

L

2019: (¥39 million)

REVENUE:

¥797.2 million

+23.2%

2019: ¥647 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • Launched Elite one-on-one education services, which is priced 40% higher than the regular product.

• Launched AI-maths programme to address a broader market demand.

OneSmart chairman and chief executive Steve Zhang: “Despite the short-term challenges, we remain confident on growth prospect of our business and the ability of our highly effective personalised teaching programmes to help improve learning experience and outcome. The situation requires us to accelerate the expansion of our online platform, OneSmart Online.”

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FINANCE: RESULTS

Perdoceo Education Corporation Schaumburg, Illinois-based Perdoceo, formerly known as Career Education Corporation, is a for-profit post-secondary higher education provider.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 NET INCOME: REVENUE:

$70 million

+26.8%

2018: $55.2 million

$627.7 million

+8%

2018: $581.3 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also reported figures for the fourth quarter of 2019, with net income of $27.5 million, up from net income of $14.1 million reported for Q4 2018.

• Revenue for the period was $158.5 million, up from $145.5 million in revenue reported the fourth quarter of 2018.

Perdoceo president and chief executive Todd Nelson: “Fourth quarter 2019 marked a positive close to the year and we are proud to serve over 36,000 students pursuing post-secondary studies across our academic institutions. Fourth-quarter results highlight the success of our operating strategy that focuses on student experiences, retention and academic outcomes, while making investments in technology and leveraging data analytics to further support our students and enhance their learning.”

Sallie Mae Newark, Delaware-based SLM Corporation, commonly known as Sallie Mae is a saving, planning, and paying for college company.

PERIOD COVERED: Full year 2019 NET INCOME:

$578 million

+18.7%

2018: $487 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • 2019 GAAP diluted earnings per common share increased by 21% over 2018.

• Net interest income was $1.6 billion, a 15% increase on 2018.

The company stated: It plans to sell $3 billion of private education loans to fund $600 million in share buybacks this year.

Zovio San Diego-based Zovio is a post-secondary education services provider.

PERIOD COVERED: Full-year 2019 NET LOSS:

($54.8 million)

L

2018: ($4.6 million)

REVENUE:

$417.8 million

– 5.8%

2018: $443.4 million

HIGHLIGHTS: • The company also announced results for the fourth quarter of 2019. Its net loss for the period was $23 million, compared to a net loss of $13.4 million reported for Q4 2018.

• Revenue for the period was $96.3 million, down from revenue of $94.7 million reported for the fourth quarter of 2018 last year.

Zovio founder, president and chief executive Andrew Clark: “During 2019, we made substantial progress as we transition Zovio to an education technology services company. At the same time, new enrolment for the fourth quarter of 2019 exceeded our expectations, while Ashford’s annual cohort retention rate increased meaningfully as of December 31, 2019, over the prior year. In addition, our education partnership programmes continue to flourish.”

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

57

EXECUTIVE MOVES

executive moves Adtalem Global Education Higher education provider Adtalem Global Education has announced that its next group president, financial services will be Stephen Beard, replacing Mehul Patel, who is resigning his post at the end of the month to pursue another opportunity outside the education industry.

Beard joined the organisation in 2018 as senior vice-president, general counsel and corporate secretary, before taking on the role of chief operating officer last year. He was previously executive vice-president, chief administrative officer and general counsel of Heidrick & Struggles International, where he oversaw a variety of enterprise-level functions, including strategy and corporate development and directed global legal operations for the company.

In addition, Chaka Patterson is being promoted to Adtalem’s general counsel and corporate secretary. Patterson joined the organisation in 2018 as vice-president, deputy general counsel. He previously held various leadership positions in the public and private sector, including chief of the Civil Actions Bureau in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, partner at Jones Day, and vice-president and treasurer of Exelon Corporation.

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Patel and Patterson will report directly to chairman and chief executive Lisa Wardell.

ApplyBoard International student recruitment online platform ApplyBoard has appointed Jo Johnson as chairman to its advisory board. Johnson the former UK minister of state for universities, science, research and innovation – and brother of the UK prime minister Boris.

Johnson is also the non-executive chairman of TES Global, owner of the Times Educational Supplement and a UK peer-to-peer marketplace for teacher resources, recruitment, and software services. He previously spent 13 years at the Financial Times, where he was associate editor.

ApplyBoard is headquartered in Kitchener, Ontario.

Barnes & Noble Education Barnes & Noble Education (BNED), a provider of educational products and services for higher education and K12, has appointed Jonathan Shar as executive vice-president, retail and client solutions, with responsibility for the growth and profitability of the retail segment.

He joined the company in 2018.

Shar was previously senior vice-president,

revenue and product development for the company. Before that, he was chief marketing officer at Akademos, an e-commerce and digital marketing company that provides online bookstore services. He was previously general manager of NOOK digital content at Barnes & Noble and before that senior vice-president and general manager at CNNMoney. Earlier he was vice-president of consumer marketing at Sports Illustrated Group and director of consumer marketing for Fortune Magazine Group.

The Basking Ridge, New Jersey-based company also announced that Lisa Malat has been appointed president of Barnes & Noble College (BNC), with responsibility for the growth and profitability of BNC, providing strategic direction and operational leadership across the business, which manages campus bookstores and e-commerce sites in the US. She became chief operating officer of BNC in 2018. She joined the company in 1996, and has held various senior executive positions including chief marketing officer and vice-president of Operations. Prior to joining BNC she held several senior level roles within the Macy’s organisation.

Both Shar and Malat will continue to report directly to Michael P Huseby, BNED’s chairman and chief executive.

▶

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

EXECUTIVE MOVES

Jo Johnson, ApplyBoard

Jonathan Shar, Barnes & Noble Education

Lisa Malat, Barnes & Noble Education

Richard Becker, Digarc

Stephen Laster, Ellucian

Frank Suttie, Freeths

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

59

EXECUTIVE MOVES

▶

The company also announced Barry Brover’s positions as executive vice-president, operations of BNED and executive vice-president of BNC “have been eliminated and that he will be leaving the company at the end of the current fiscal year”. Brover’s former responsibilities are now shared by Malat and Shar in their new roles.

CeriFi CeriFi, a provider of education to the financial services sector, has appointed Matthew Given as chief executive, based in Atlanta.

Given will lead CeriFi’s portfolio of training and certification companies, including Dalton Education, Money Education, Keir Financial Education and PassPerfect, and the Association of Certified Financial Crime Specialists. The companies collectively cater to financial planning, insurance and securities professionals and organisations.

Given has more than 20 years’ experience in professional education and technology roles, initially as a teacher before moving into management and senior management roles. He has spent the past 10 years in senior positions within education technology businesses. Most recently he was the president and chief executive of a 500-employee education technology business that he transitioned from a founderled consumer publishing and credit recovery company to a unified software provider. His experience spans the institutional and consumer K12 and higher education markets, as well as the professional development and certification sector.

CeriFi is a Leeds Equity Partners portfolio company.

Digarc Higher education curriculum management software company Digarc has appointed Richard Becker as chief executive, succeeding Angela Selden who has joined American Public Education as chief executive.

Becker will be based in the company’s Lakeland, Florida headquarters. The company’s services include catalogue management, curriculum management, student scheduling, administrative schedule planning, and a student academic pathway builder.

Becker was previously chief operating officer at Stack Sports, a software-as-a-service company focused on the youth, amateur, collegiate and pro sports industry. Before that he was president of Target Analytics, a division of Blackbaud, which provides software and services for higher education and non-profit organisations.

60

Ellucian Ellucian, which provides software services to higher education institutions, has appointed Stephen Laster as chief product officer.

Laster will lead all aspects of product direction and strategy across the product, and the research and development organisations, and guide Reston, Virginia-based Ellucian’s platform, products, and solutions.

Laster is a technologist, business leader, strategist, e-learning designer and educator, with an extensive background in higher education. He was previously chief digital and learning officer at Penn Foster, where he led the technology, courseware, and education practices. Before that, he worked for more than a decade in technology leadership roles related to higher education, including as chief digital officer at McGraw-Hill Education, chief information officer at Harvard Business School, and director of curriculum innovation and technology at Babson College.

Freeths London-based law firm Freeths has hired Frank Suttie as a director. Working with national head of commercial, Iain Bowler, Suttie will focus on the developing the firm’s commercial presence in the north of England.

Suttie has nearly 20 years’ experience working as a legal advisor to the education sector. The focus of his practice is commercial and he has brought to Freeths a client base of ed tech and other education businesses with interests covering learning platforms, and developers of software and apps supporting curriculum delivery and assessment.

He is an advisor to the British Education Suppliers Association and takes an interest in policy development through his membership of the Education Policy Institute. Suttie’s appointment aims to make Freeths a leading player in education technology.

GBS Higher education provider GBS has appointed Stanley Johnson as a member of its advisory board, which offers guidance on governance and scrutiny.

Johnson is a former Member of the European Parliament and is the father of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Johnson worked at the European Commission from 1973 to 1979 as head of the Prevention of Pollution Division. He was a senior advisor to DG Environment and as director of energy policy from 1984 to 1994. Following this was elected as MEP for Wight and Hampshire until 1982.

He also served on the staff of the World Bank.

Johnson has been an advisor to Price Waterhouse Coopers, a director of environmental consultancy ERM and a trustee of the Earthwatch Institute. He is also a novelist and poet. He has published books about environmental issues and nine novels. He used to write a weekly column for The Guardian and continues writing for various papers and magazines, often on environmental issues.

OneSmart International Education Group K12 education company OneSmart International Education Group has appointed Tuanwei Shi as chief technology officer, responsible for overseeing operations at OneSmart’s research and technology centre, reporting to Steve Zhang, chairman and chief executive.

Shi has experience leading research and development initiatives for various online services and products in the online entertainment, e-commerce, and education sectors. He has worked in several senior roles across internet companies, including Baidu, Bilibili and LAIX. The Shanghai-based company has also appointed Jinshu Ke as chief education officer, reporting to Zhang. Ke has been senior vice-president of OneSmart since August 2017.

From 1999 to 2017 he worked as a customs official in Fujian Province and as a customs attorney. Ke was a middle school teacher from 1992 to 1996.

The company added that Min Zhang has resigned as an independent director and Mason Xu has been appointed in her place. Xu will serve as a member of the audit committee, compensation committee and nominating and corporate governance committee of the board and will be the chairperson of the audit committee.

Xu is the founding partner of Heyi Capital and founder of Lightworks and DNA Pictures.

Before that, he was group vice-president and chief financial officer of Bona Film Group 2010 to 2012. Prior to that he was executive vicepresident and chief financial officer of China Digital TV Holding Co from 2006 to 2010.

Osage University Partners Philadelphia-based venture capital firm Osage University Partners (OUP) has promoted Kirsten Leute to partner, university relations.

Leute joined the firm in 2015 as senior vicepresident, university relations and previously was associate director of the Office of Technology Licensing at Stanford University.

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

EXECUTIVE MOVES

OUP has partnered with more than 100 leading universities to make direct investments in their most promising start-up companies.

Last March, the firm announced the closing of its $273 million third fund. At OUP, Leute has led efforts in growing the firm’s partner institution network from 75 partners to over 100 today, including 27 of the top-30 US research institutions. The partner institution network includes universities, research institutions, accelerators, and university venture funds in the US and abroad.

Relias Bertelsmann subsidiary Relias, which provides online training for senior care, health and human services, has appointed Kay Krafft as chief executive, starting 1 April, in addition to his responsibility as chief executive of the Bertelsmann Education Group.

As part of this transition, the Bertelsmann Education Group headquarters will be fully based in the US. Krafft succeeds Jim Triandiflou, who is leaving Relias “for personal reasons and at his own request” on 31 March, after eight years in charge, and who will support the transition, as well as assuming an advisory role for Relias until at least the end of the year.

Krafft was previously a member of BMG’s board, helping to turn the music company from a start-up in 2008 into the industry’s fourthlargest company worldwide.

Relias is headquartered in Cary, North Carolina.

The Scion Group Student housing owner and operator The Scion Group has appointed Monte J Huber as the company’s first-ever chief financial officer, responsible for financial reporting, accounting and asset management activities on behalf of The Scion Group, Scion Advisory Services and Scion’s national portfolio of student apartment communities.

Huber has 25 years’ experience and is a knowledgable finance executive. For the past six years he has been chief accounting officer, chief financial officer and senior vice-president of strategic initiatives for Blackstone at its multi-family platform, LivCor, and its asset management platform, Revantage Corporate Services, where he was involved in $16 billion of acquisitions and $7 billion of dispositions.

He previously worked at Equity Residential and Strategic Hotels & Resorts.

Weld North Education Pre-K12 digital curriculum company Weld North Education has appointed

Gautam Parasnis as chief operating officer, responsible for instructional design and curriculum development, product engineering, learning sciences and technology operations.

Parasnis joined Weld North in 2014 and has worked in senior operating positions with several of the company’s digital education companies. He previously worked at IBM, where he held leadership roles including global leader of the customer relationship management practice for the consulting business. He is a former consulting partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Weld North has also appointed Todd Ellermann as vice-president of engineering, responsible for all product engineering, data science and technology operations, reporting to Parasnis. Ellermann has 10 years’ technology leadership experience at TripAdvisor.com and as director of engineering at Lynda.com. He joins from Clarivate Analytics, where he was vice-president of the engineering science group.

Before that, he was head of the digital home client applications at Xfinity/Comcast.

David Alderslade has been appointed to lead the finance and administrative function as executive vice-president, reporting to vice-chairman and chief financial officer Steven Berger. Alderslade was previously chief financial officer at Weld North business Edgenuity and managed shared finance and administrative services for several other Weld North companies. He has more than 25 years’ experience in financial services in Europe, Asia and the US and was previously managing director and chief financial officer at Richmond Park Partners, a London-based independent merchant bank.

Weld North Education is based in New York City and is backed by Silver Lake.

Wonderschool San Francisco-headquartered early childhood education provider Wonderschool has appointed Daniel Breiner as vicepresident of product. Breiner joins from competitor WeeCare and has extensive product and marketplace experience from his time at Dog Vacay and Omaze.

Zovio

Kirsten Leute, Osage University Partners

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

Monte J Huber, The Scion Group

Education technology services company Zovio has appointed Michael P Cole to its board and as a member of its compensation and merger and acquisitions oversight committees. Cole is the managing member of SevenSaoi Capital, which, through its affiliates, beneficially owns approximately 6.8% of Zovio’s common stock. n

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ROUNDING OFF

companies index 3B Scientific 14, 46 2U 52 Access (UK) Education 7, 46 Adjacent Academies 46 AdmitHub 17, 46 Adtalem Global Education 11, 52, 58 Akademos 58 Algeco Group 12, 46 Alpha Kindergarten 6 American Campus Communities 53 American Public Education 60 Apax Partners 7, 46 ApplyBoard 58-59 Ardian 35 Baidu 60 Banyan Software 15, 47 Barnes & Noble Education 58 Barney Lodge Day 6, 51 BBD Education 8 Bertelsmann 61 BioQuest 16 Bisk Ventures 46 Blackbaud 60 Blackstone 61 Bloomberg 33 Blue Bird Corporation 53 Booke Seminars 15, 50 Boxlight Corporation 47 Brentwood Associates 15, 47 Bright Beginnings 8 Bright Horizons 30-33, 53 Bright Scholar 21 Busuu 11, 47 Busy Bees 6, 47 Cadence Education 7, 46 Canadian Tourism College 49 Career Education Corporation 57 Carnegie Learning 14, 50 CedarBridge Partners 35 Central European University 17 CeriFi 60 Chartall Business College 9, 51 Chegg 54 Christie & Co 6, 51 CIBT Education Group 54 CIL Management Consultants 38 Citigroup 25 Clark 57 Coassemble 48 Colibri Group 11, 48 Cooley 17 Coventry University 9 Credentials Solutions 15 Delhi School of Internet Marketing 48 Digital Vidya 48 Doubtnut 48 Dukes Education 8, 48 Dulwich College 21 EC English 12 Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne 10 Edgenuity 61 Education First 17 EduKids 6, 47 EES for Schools 13 Ellucian 59-60 Embibe 49 Emergence Capital 17, 51 Encantos 49 Entangled Group 46 EQT Credit 35 EY-Parthenon 35

62

Freeths 59-60 Frontenac 49 Frost & Sullivan 22 FutureLearn 35 Galvanize 11, 50 GBS 60 Georgian Partners 17, 51 Georgia Tech 14 Global Education 13, 49 Goldman Sachs 47 Google 17, 23, 27, 46 Google Assistant 17, 46 Gordonstoun 8 Grand Canyon Education 54 Grant Cooper 16 Gridiron Capital 11 GSX Techedu 55 Hondros Education Group 11, 48 Horace Mann Educators Corporation 55 House Schools Group 8, 48 HSBC 10 Hyland 13, 49 iae China 13, 49 IBM 61 ILAC 49 Imperial College London 12, 28 Inovia Capital 17, 51 Insendi 12, 51 Instructure 11, 17 InterviewBit 17, 50 Investcorp 14, 51 ISC Research 21 iSimulate 14, 46 iTutorGroup 25 Ivy Tech 17 JKFZ Cambridge International School 23 Jones Day 58 J.P. Morgan 17 Juniper Education 13, 50 Just Childcare 35 K12 Inc 55 Kahoot! 23 Kapor Capital 49 Kendall Hunt Publishing Company 14, 50 Kindred Nurseries 35 King & Wood Mallesons 20-21 Kirkland & Ellis 17 Knight Frank 9 Koya Leadership Partners 16 LAIX 60 Laureate Education 35 Learning Machine 13, 49 Leeds Equity Partners 60 L.E.K. Consulting 23-24 LinkedIn 22-23 London School of Management Education 10 Lynda.com 61 Maple Leaf 21 Mayfield Childcare 56 Maze Education 13, 50 McGraw-Hill Education 60 Meazure Learning 16 MinterEllison 14, 46 Morgan Stanley Capital Partners 7, 46 MPA Education 35 Nearpod 23 Net Modular 12, 46 New Ground Ventures 46 New Oriental 22 Nord Anglia 31 Omidyar Network 48

OneSmart 56, 60 Osage University Partners 60-61 Oxford Summer Courses 26-28 Paradigm Education Solutions 14, 50 Parchment 15, 47 Park Lane Kids 6 Penn Foster 60 Perdoceo Education Corporation 57 Permira 17 Prime Principle 13 ProctorU 16 Providence 11, 48 Raine Group 15 Reach Capital 17 Redwoods Dowling Kerr 6, 47 Reigate Grammar School 7, 40-41, 43 Reliance Industries 49 Resonance 8 Rethink Education 46 RGS 40, 43 Risk Strategies 50 Riverside Acceleration Capital 13 Russell Group 40 RYB Education 21 Salesforce 17, 46 Sallie Mae 57 Scape 24 School Pathway 15, 47 Scion Group 61 Sequoia 17, 48, 50 Shearman & Sterling 47 Silver Lake 61 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett 7, 46 Sodexo 31 Sovos 15, 50 Squiggles Childcare 6, 47 Stanford University 60 Sterling College 49 Storal Learning 6, 51 Storbeck Search & Associates 16, 48 Strayer University 10 Study Group 12, 35, 51 Taaleem 31-32 TAL 22, 25 Tencent 48 TES Global 58 The Lind Partners 47 The Old Station Nursery 35 The Preiss Company 14, 51 The Scion Group 61 Thoma Bravo 11, 13, 17 Tiger Global 17, 50 Top Hat 17, 51 Udemy 51 Union Square Ventures 17, 51 Unite Students 24 University of London 52 University Ventures 17 Venture Education 21-22 Verbling 11, 47 Vivi Partners 13 Weld North Education 61 Wellington College 21 William Blair 7, 46 Wisbech Grammar School 7, 46 Wisdom Education 21 Wonderschool 61 Workforce Holdings 9, 51 XanEdu 49 Yardstick Assessment Strategies 16 Zovio 57, 61

EducationInvestor Global • March 2020

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