upGrad sees a 50% surge in learners — Data science and digital marketing top choices

• Ronnie Screwvala backed edtech startup upGrad saw a 50% surge in the registrations over the last two weeks — after it allowed access to its tech platform ‘upGrad Live’ for free to all colleges, universities.
  
• Mayank Kumar, Founder & MD of upGrad told Business Insider in an interview how the pandemic has shown the upside potential of online education.
  
• “Two-three weeks ago, we used to get 2,500 enquiries a day, but there has been a 50% upside with over 3,800 enquiries per day,” he said.
  
• People are therefore looking for courses in digital marketing and data science.

Online learning platforms are witnessing an uptick in enrollment and queries for courses, thanks to the Coronavirus lockdown.

Ronnie Screwvala backed edtech startup upGrad saw a 50% surge in registrations over the last two weeks — after it allowed access to its tech platform ‘upGrad Live’ for free to all colleges, universities.

Mayank Kumar, founder and MD of upGrad told Business Insider in an interview how the pandemic has shown the upside potential of online education. “Given the current crisis, we have allowed access to our platform to impart live lectures. This is open to colleges and universities across the globe as the learners have amplified,” he said.

“People have now started to understand the gravity of the situation. Two to three weeks ago, we used to get 2,500 enquiries a day, but there has been a 50% upside with over 3,800 enquiries per day. That is because people are now searching what can be done online,” Kumar added.

upGrad’s live platform replicates real-time classroom learning along with doubt resolution and session analytics to gauge live session performances.

In fact, the networking event held by upGrad also turned into a webinar this time — witnessing over 500 people accessing the platform for live class on data science. This is as more people work from home amid the lockdown.

Mayank also said that, in the current scenario, people are looking at courses in digital marketing and data science. “There are two areas that can be explored with short-term courses — aspects of digital marketing (search engine optimization, google analytics etc) and the extensive usage of data (data science, analytics and machine learning),” he said.

Screwvala also agrees that the completion rate for such courses also witnessed growth. upGrad offers online degrees in undergraduate and postgraduate courses and all fields of management.

“upGrad has an 80% completion rate — and it is going to be higher. It's not a choice factor, it is a part of the degree course. Today, you can get a degree from the University of Mumbai without coming to Mumbai. You can be in a small town and aspire to have a degree from top notch universities,” he said in an earlier interview.

There has been a significant rise in Google Trends too for online classes.

Byju’s also witnessed a 60% increase in new learners within seven days of free access to its platform — as the government closed down schools and other educational institutions as a precautionary measure.

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