It has always been difficult for a large chunk of the Indian population to access good quality higher education, for a variety of reasons – inability to pay the fees, having to work in order to earn a living for themselves and their families, lack of interesting vocational courses or the paucity of seats at good universities. This is proved by the fact that only 26.3% of people in India enrol for higher education, as per recent studies. Fortunately, the rise of edtech platforms and people’s increasing access to and dependence on smart devices has finally offered a solution.
New-Delhi based Learntoupgrade, an edtech startup helping graduates to upgrade their skills by learning courses that are relatively new to the Indian market, is a fine example of this. Launched in March 2019, their focus is on helping students develop an interest in courses in biotechnology and bioscience like medical coding, forensic sciences, cyber security, ethical hacking, drug designing and drug discovery, food microbiology, and pharmacovigilance.
With a market reach that goes well beyond India, they have over 50,000 enrolled students, a large number of whom have attained certificates in various programmes. This success has enabled them to tie up with several colleges and universities to provide faculty training programmes as well.
“We launched Learntoupgrade with the idea of enabling students to become job-ready,” says the founder of the startup Hardeep Puri. With a Masters in Computer Applications and a background in management, people planning, business development, financial planning, and marketing strategy, he is well-placed to spearhead this edtech startup.
“The vision of the company is to provide industry learning for every willing student. We came up with this idea during the pandemic when we hit a block and were not able to physically visit colleges to provide vocational training, which was our model earlier,” explains Diktesh Singh Puri, who is the advisor to the team.
He adds further, “We plan to remain virtual from now on, to reach the masses and if we need physical lessons for performing offline activities like lab experiments which are not possible online, we will look at avenues to have a physical setup for them in particular.”
Learntoupgrade works on the basis of a model where students are provided learning on a particular topic. Each topic falls under a different price ranging from $50 to $500. Flexible plans are in place to provide the courses as bundles for economic feasibility. For those who are unable to attend virtual live sessions for any reason, recorded sessions are provided. There is also a section dedicated to addressing the doubts of students and getting them resolved.
A panel of over 3000 professors and industry mentors provide a gamut of knowledge on varied subjects. These teachers are selected on the basis of interviews conducted by the team and also on the basis of any past online training experience they may have.
Though free webinars are organised frequently to introduce the subjects to students, attendance to these webinars is not certified. However, there are other courses where certification is provided. The website displays details of whether the course comes with certification or not, upon completion. The wide range of courses includes options in management, engineering, biotechnology, life sciences, and pharma, to name a few.
When asked if it has been challenging to attract students to the platform, Hardeep responds with, “To be honest we have been in this industry for six years and we were quickly able to reach 50,000 learners. If we maintain our current pace we should reach five lakh learners by 2023, so it has not been challenging for us.” They use social media and varied digital platforms to spread the word about their services.
Since they provide specialised learning to graduates, postgraduates and professionals, the ages of their students vary from 18 years to 45 years. Though India is the major operational base, they have students from Bangladesh, the Philippines, the US, Indonesia and Nepal as well. Edtech startups like Learntoupgrade are all set to revolutionise vocational education and in turn the job industry for graduates.
The writer pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her blog www.nooranandchawla.com. She can be reached on nooranand@gmail.com.