{"id":1170,"date":"2018-10-02T15:07:50","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T13:07:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shuo-digital.com\/?p=1170\/"},"modified":"2019-05-15T15:20:35","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T13:20:35","slug":"online-schools-a-new-opportunity-for-the-french-educational-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shuo-digital.com\/en\/online-schools-a-new-opportunity-for-the-french-educational-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"Online schools: a new opportunity for the French educational sector"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rapid growth of China\u2019s e-commerce<\/a> had lead many enterprises to realize that digitalizing their activities was a step not to be missed.<\/p>\n

Besides, the population itself also has a new attitude towards studies. To continue to train in languages as well as in other subjects has become a real guarantee of social valorization. A Chinese online course platform\u2019s slogan gives a clear example of this growing tendency: \u201cstudy and become a better person!\u201d (<\/em>\u00ab\u00a0\u5b66\u4e60\uff0c\u6210\u4e3a\u66f4\u597d\u7684\u81ea\u5df1\u00a0<\/em>\u00bb)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The Chinese educational sector is much more than just pedagogy: it is a real business where money is not a taboo. \u201cOnline schools\u201d (\u5728\u7ebf\u5b66\u6821) also named as “digital education” (\u5728\u7ebf\u6559\u80b2) are not a new phenomenon but were not well-known and the concept very little exploited until today.<\/p>\n

This boom of online schools is an opportunity in terms of communication for French educational structures wishing to attract Chinese students. Moreover, the latest forms a contingent among foreign students in France, since they represent the country\u2019s second largest student flow (UNESCO, 2015) after Morocco with a total of 28,760<\/a> Chinese students in France over the period 2016-2017 (Campus France, 2018).<\/p>\n

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Provenance of all foreign students in France, according to UNESCO 2015 statistics.<\/em><\/p>\n

The beginning of the digital age and the creation of new educational opportunities in China<\/strong><\/h1>\n

With the rise of digital solutions, other phenomenon had also lead to the development of online schools. The progressive opening of China to the West has resulted in a strong demand of qualified people, especially the one mastering foreign languages such as English. In the same way, the rapid growth of the Chinese economy has allowed a large number of persons to access specialized training. Thus, many \u201conline\u201d and \u201coffline schools\u201d were created. Offline language schools are mainly chosen for the learning of children; whereas teenagers, students and working people prefer to use online bespoke language courses.<\/p>\n

Specialized trainings are also developing thanks to digital solutions. Indeed, courses in engineering, mathematics, commerce and other subjects are available online. Those are often a complement to university courses and give students opportunities to learn through another type of teaching, deepen some particular points or review parts that were not well understood. Thanks to the variety of courses that are offered, online courses have grown even more rapidly. According to the CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center), there are now more than 171 million<\/a> users of e-learning solutions in China and 83%<\/a> of them are learning via their mobile phones (142 million). In addition, a large majority of those people belong to the age group that is the most in search of mobility, namely the 18-27 year old.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Total amount of users choosing e-learning solutions (blue), including users choosing to learn via their mobile phones rather than other internet devices (red). Evolution between December 2017 and June 2018 according to CNNIC statistics.<\/em><\/p>\n

An alternative to the Western Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC)<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The Chinese learning system soon knew how to differentiate the idea of \u201cremote course\u201d and \u201conline course\u201d. Unlike the first one, which does not always mean that students are closely monitored by a teacher, the second one plays the advantage of proximity and flexibility. Several types of courses have emerged in the last six years:<\/p>\n