{"id":12720,"date":"2019-04-29T07:00:07","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T06:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ounews.co\/?p=12720"},"modified":"2019-04-29T07:00:07","modified_gmt":"2019-04-29T06:00:07","slug":"the-open-university-secures-50m-investment-in-social-learning-platform-futurelearn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/around-ou\/university-news\/the-open-university-secures-50m-investment-in-social-learning-platform-futurelearn\/","title":{"rendered":"The Open University secures \u00a350m investment in social learning platform FutureLearn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SEEK Group investment takes FutureLearn from start-up to a \u00a3100m value company in just six years<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEEK Group (ASX: SEK) will invest \u00a350m to become a joint, 50% owner of The Open University\u2019s FutureLearn social learning platform, it was announced today in a deal thought to be the largest ever private-sector EdTech investment in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"FutureLearn\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Open University launched FutureLearn, which is based in\nLondon, in December 2012 with a dozen UK university partners to test\nopportunities offered by digital learning and massive open online courses\n(known as MOOCs). Rapid growth means that FutureLearn now has over nine\nmillion learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The platform offers short online courses right through to postgraduate\ndiplomas and certificates and fully online degrees, all designed around social\nlearning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

FutureLearn partners with over a quarter of the world\u2019s top\nuniversities, as well as organisations such as Accenture, the British Council,\nthe Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Raspberry Pi and Health\nEducation England (NHS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcoming the announcement, The Open University\u2019s Vice Chancellor Mary Kellett said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our new partnership is a fantastic opportunity to change more lives around the globe through flexible lifelong learning. The Open University is rightly known for pioneering new approaches to education and for our academic excellence. <\/p>

Today\u2019s announcement shows this is as true today as when we started fifty years ago. It represents one of the most exciting educational prospects in modern times.<\/p>

Our partnership with SEEK and the investment in FutureLearn will take our unique mission to make education open for all into new parts of the world. Education improves lives, communities and economies and is a truly global product, with no tariffs on ideas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The new partnership with SEEK will have contractual arrangements\nin place to protect the University\u2019s academic independence, teaching methods\nand curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SEEK Group is a market leader in the creation and management\nof online education and employment businesses. SEEK are well-established across\nAustralia, New Zealand, China, South East Asia, Brazil and Mexico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on the investment, SEEK Co-Founder and CEO Andrew Bassat said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This investment follows the same logic applied to IDP and Online Education Services \u2018OES\u2019 in that we like to invest in disruptive business models that provide world class student education outcomes.<\/p>

Technology is increasing the accessibility of quality education and can help millions of people up-skill and re-skill to adapt to rapidly changing labour markets. We see FutureLearn as a key enabler for education at scale.<\/p>

FutureLearn\u2019s reputation is strong and it has attracted leading education providers onto its platform. We are excited to come on as a partner with The Open University.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

FutureLearn is involved in UK government-backed initiatives to\naddress skills gaps including The Institute of Coding and the National Centre\nfor Computing Education. It currently has six university partners offering\nfull, online degrees on the platform, and has most recently launched Unlimited,\na new business model allowing learners access to most courses for a one-off\nannual payment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commenting on the investment FutureLearn CEO Simon Nelson said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Open University\u2019s vision and investment, the hard work of our staff and support of our partners, has seen FutureLearn grow rapidly in the past six years. The investment announced today will enable us to unlock FutureLearn\u2019s true potential and extend our global reach and impact.<\/p>

This investment allows us to focus on developing more great courses and qualifications that both learners and employers will value. This includes building a portfolio of micro-credentials and broadening our range of flexible, fully online degrees and being able to enhance support for our growing number of international partners to empower them to build credible digital strategies, and in doing so, transform access to education.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

FutureLearn\nhas been advised by IBIS Capital, a specialist investment and corporate finance\nadvisory group focused on the global media, education and health sectors, and\nKemp Little, a leading technology focused law firm. The Open University was\nadvised by Farrer & Co, the London-based independent law firm. SEEK Group\nwas advised by O’Melveny & Myers, an international law firm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SEEK Group investment takes FutureLearn from start-up to a \u00a3100m value company in just six years SEEK Group (ASX: SEK) will invest \u00a350m to become a joint, 50% owner of The Open University\u2019s FutureLearn social learning platform, it was announced today in a deal thought to be the largest ever private-sector EdTech investment in Europe. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1525,1640],"class_list":["post-12720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-university-news","tag-news-home","tag-ou-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}