Trends in continuing education – online and digitalization
Trends in continuing education Association survey 2022
The association survey conducted by the Wuppertaler Kreis e.V. in 2022 reveals important trends in continuing education, particularly with regard to online and digitalization
The Wuppertaler Kreis is the association of leading further education service providers in the economy and recorded over 118,000 events with more than 1.4 million participants in 2021. The total turnover of the members amounted to more than 1.5 billion euros.
Current status:
Sales expectations are positive, as demand for open seminars, in-house measures and qualification measures is increasing due to the challenges of digitalization, deglobalization and labour shortages. Some measures that were postponed due to the pandemic can now be made up for. Teaching and study programs as well as employment promotion measures are expected to record stable sales.
Most training service providers already generate more than 60% of their turnover from training services for companies. Two thirds of those surveyed are convinced that turnover will increase for both open seminars and in-house measures. Both are often carried out in digital form.
Source: Wuppertaler Kreis e.V
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant economic impact on further education institutions. However, training providers have successfully switched to digital formats. The planning and implementation of measures was challenging due to last-minute changes, cancellations and lower numbers of participants. The technical challenges for the participants are sometimes problematic, while the service providers have largely solved their technical challenges.
Trends in continuing education:
The situation during the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated the digital transformation. The practical experience gained with the digital implementation of continuing education forms the basis for a forecast for the future: Where have online offerings proven their worth and on which topics will continuing education continue to take place in face-to-face formats in the future?
Source: Wuppertaler Kreis e.V
Further education service providers see the strengths of online formats primarily in specialist topics and knowledge transfer.
These are the formats that will mainly be in demand online in the future.
A clear majority of training service providers believe that digital offerings are indispensable in order to survive on the market.
Digitalization is perceived as a disruptive factor for the market for in-company training services
Source: Wuppertaler Kreis e.V
Trends in continuing education:
Digital forms of learning will continue to account for a large proportion of the business activities of continuing education service providers in the future. The training experts surveyed expect digital specialist seminars and in-house workshops in particular to make a significant contribution to overall sales in the future.
Digitally offered specialist seminars in particular will continue to be of great economic importance in the future.
Source: Wuppertaler Kreis e.V
It is particularly interesting that almost all providers expect open seminars (presence) to decline in the future, also due to social requirements (climate change). This is another reason why training service providers’ own seminar houses and training centers will no longer be viable in the future.
Conclusion:
Overall, it can be said that training service providers are optimistic that business activities will no longer be severely impacted by the pandemic. Digitalization plays a decisive role in continuing education. Providers who have successfully switched to online formats and consistently expand them will be able to meet the growing demand for qualification measures.
You can download the complete results of the survey here free of charge.