Skill learning platform confident in Chinese market

Udemy, a United States online skill learning platform, offers an extra vote of confidence for its business outlook in China for 2024, thanks to a sound growth in the market here and the country's dynamic landscape, said its top executive.

Richard Qiu, president of new ventures at Udemy, said that the Chinese market represents a "substantial opportunity" for companies like Udemy, and the company was upbeat about its role in shaping the education landscape across the nation.

Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, he said that the company has maintained a "sound growth" here in the Chinese market over the past year and highlighted that the US company has developed an improved understanding of the Chinese market.

"We have a better understanding of the market, particularly from a market-fit perspective, which includes content selection, user experience and customer acquisition," Qiu said.

For instance, the company substantially increased its course offerings in China from 400 to nearly 1,400 based on consumption metrics, and such expansion is tailored to specific industries and enterprises, he explained.

Also, for its clientele in China, Qiu said that the company's courses have attracted increasing multinational companies and Chinese tech firms across industries like automotive, professional consulting and banking.

Reiterating Udemy's commitment to the long-term development of the Chinese market, Qiu said: "We want to be here. It's still a large market, a changing market, and with the right people and partners, we believe we can make a positive impact over time."

The remarks came as the US company inked a partnership with Chinese online job offering platform 51job earlier this year, which marked a milestone for its growth in the Chinese education market.

"Such a collaboration will leverage 51job's extensive footprint in China, and will offer an ideal platform for Udemy to enhance its presence," he said.

On the other hand, Qiu said that Udemy can help to support and bring the most efficient, best educational product for clients of 51job to help their business growth.

"Altogether, the partnership will efficiently address increasing demand for learning and development in a transformative business landscape," he added.

Qiu, an industry veteran, also offered his insights about some prominent trends of the country's vocational market over the past year.

"There is a fundamental shift from degree-based education to skill-based education, where people are eager to acquire and develop specific skills that are relevant to the rapidly changing demands of various industries," he said.

Also, the past years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, have prompted a surge in online learning platforms and the consolidation of the highly fragmented vocational training industry.

"Udemy benefited from such trends due to its extensive offerings and ability to cater to diverse learning needs," he emphasized.

As United States' OpenAI's ChatGPT has taken the tech world by storm over the past year, Qiu said that Udemy was one of the first global learning platforms to offer content on learning generative AI skills, and published a course just 11 days after its launch.

On a global scale, nearly 800 instructors created and published 1,100 courses related to ChatGPT on the Udemy platform, he noted.

"More efforts will definitely be made to offer more content on generative AI to help more people become more competitive and innovative in this fast-moving macroeconomic environment," he added.

chengyu@chinadaily.com.cn