Online study was taken by the academician – Newspaper Kommersant No. 182 (7383) dated 03.10.2022

Edtech companies specializing in adult education have recorded a 10-30% drop in traffic since the beginning of partial mobilization in Russia. Interest is falling even in the previously most popular Data Science and foreign language courses. Some market participants hope for an increase in demand from specialists who have moved abroad, and the segment of children’s education also remains stable. But in general, according to experts, the market in 2022 for the first time may show a fall of 10-15%.

Traffic in the educational areas of Netology (specializes in additional adult education, training in marketing, programming, analytics, design, etc.) after the announcement of partial mobilization fell by about 10-15% depending on the direction in relation to the end of August, Kommersant said ” CEO of the company Marianna Snegireva. “People in anxiety and stress do not go to school,” she states. Courses of additional professional education do not give a deferment from mobilization (according to the criteria announced earlier by the Ministry of Digital Development, only IT specialists with higher education can apply for a deferral), notes Marianna Snegireva. She added that the demand for training in professions in the field of programming and Data Science, against the background of other courses, sank the least, but also decreased relative to the beginning of September.

In other interviewed “Kommersant” Edtech-companies confirm the trend. Traffic on the Skillbox platform on September 21 decreased by 18% compared to the previous week, says its commercial director Artem Kazakov. “Today we are seeing the February trend: a decrease in activity among current users and pent-up demand for potential ones,” he notes. GeekBrains CEO Alexander Volchek said that since September 21, the company has recorded a decrease in both traffic and student engagement in the educational process by 20-30%. Skyeng Managing Partner Alexander Laryanovsky said that a week after the mobilization shows a drop in demand of about 10% for English for adults, 15% for IT courses for adults.

According to market participants, the segment of children’s education is not affected by the trend. “The growth of children’s IT for the week was 10%, the growth of children’s English was also 10%,” says Alexander Laryanovskiy. “We have not yet recorded a drop in traffic or a drop in sales. Nevertheless, the children’s segment is more resistant to such news, as the experience of February has already shown. Parents are ready to invest in the education of their children, especially online,” says Mikhail Myagkov, CEO of Maximum Educaiton. Nevertheless, against the backdrop of current events, the company revised its development strategy, including expanding the product line in favor of the mass segment, he says. At the end of the year, Mikhail Myagkov predicts a drop in revenue growth by 30–35% compared to 2021.

Participants in the adult education market are more cautious in their forecasts. “In a year, we will have growth slightly above the plan, provided that there are no dramatic events in the country and the world,” says Alexander Laryanovskiy. Artem Kazakov notes that over the past six months, the demand for long-term comprehensive professional training programs (from 12 months or more), which allow you to completely change your career track, has exceeded interest in monocourses to improve current skills (from one to seven months) five times, which can contribute to performance improvement. Marianna Snegireva is counting on an increase in demand from Russian-speaking specialists who have gone abroad. The decline now will be very sharp, as in February, and will continue in the coming weeks, “its depth depends on how quickly the prospects for mobilization become clear,” says Maxim Spiridonov, founder of Netology Group and the Reforma business club. The fall of the Edtech market at the end of the year due to a combination of factors is inevitable – “this will be the first year in the history of the Russian market when the industry will show not growth, but a fall of at least 10–15%,” he believes.

Valeria Lebedeva