The new report has 497 pages, 51 forecast tables, and 17 charts. The Serious Play Conference is the exclusive reseller of the report.

“The market conditions are very favorable for suppliers,” reports Sam S. Adkins, chief research at Metaari and author of the report. “The major revenue opportunities are in the corporate segments and the federal government agencies across the planet. The revenues are heavily concentrated in North America and the Asia Pacific. While China is the largest buying country in the Asia Pacific region, the US is the largest buying country in the world by a large margin. The most lucrative revenue opportunities are in the US throughout the forecast period.”

The demand is high and the barriers-to-entry are falling fast. Suppliers no longer have to develop expensive proprietary AI but instead “rent” AI from cloud-based AI vendors (like IBM Watson) and buy relatively inexpensive premade and pretrained components in the growing number of online marketplaces. Startups are now able to get products to market very quickly.

Metaari has revised our AI-based Learning revenue forecasts significantly upward from previous forecasts. The rapid uptake of AI-based Learning coincides with the rapid evolution of AI technology in general. The competitive landscape is fundamentally different than it was a little over two years ago.

“Legacy suppliers are ‘buying their way in’ via acquisitions of AI-based Learning startups,” comments Adkins. “The major compelling pattern in the recent M&A activity is the growing number of acquisitions made by very large educational publishers and by the technology giants.”

Very large education publishers like Wiley, McGraw-Hill, Pearson, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Daekyo, Elsevier, Follett, Cornerstone, VitalSource, and Course Hero have all acquired AI-based Learning startups in the last two years. Tech giants like Apple, Google, Medtronic, Microsoft, SAP, and IBM have scooped up AI-based Learning startups as well. These companies are tapping the massive revenues in the booming AI-based Learning market and have effectively “bought their way in”. Intense M&A activity is often a sign of consolidation but that is not the case (yet) in the global AI-based Learning market.

“Well-funded startups are coming on the market at a steady pace,” comments Adkins. “Hundreds of new AI-based Learning suppliers have entered the market since 2018. More than half (59%) of the 700 suppliers cited in this report have obtained private investment in the last two years. What is interesting is that a large number of these startups obtained additional rounds in 2020.

A breathtaking $10.6 billion was invested in 406 AI-based Learning companies in 2020. Eight of the top ten funded AI-based Learning companies in the world were US companies.

There are six sections in this report: an overview of the global market conditions, an analysis of the major catalysts driving the market, a demand side-analysis, and a supply-side analysis. There is also an appendix with Metaari’s definition of AI-based Learning and an index of over 700 suppliers.

The supply-side analysis provides five-year revenue forecasts for three types of commercial AI-based Learning products and services: retail packaged content, custom development services, and AI-based Learning authoring tools and platforms. Packaged content revenue is further broken out by ten content categories and platform revenues are broken out for nine distinct tool types.

About Metaari

Metaari (formerly Ambient Insight) is an ethics-based quantitative market research firm that identifies revenue opportunities for advanced learning technology suppliers. We track the learning technology markets in 126 countries. We have the most complete view of the international learning technology market in the industry. Metaari focusses solely on advanced learning technology research on products that utilize psychometrics, neuroscience, location intelligence, game mechanics, robotics, cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and augmented reality.

The press release Global AI-based Learning Market Surges to $34.9 Billion by 2026 comes from Xinwengao.com press release distribution and journalist media database service in China.

Based on the major findings of the study, the research team concluded that despite the relatively short duration of 1-8 weeks staying in Mainland China, the intercultural competence of the participating students increased and they reported more positive attitudes and views toward Mainland China and Chinese people, along with increased identification with the Nation after completing the programmes. Moreover, students with strong internal motivations, proactive learning attitudes, and high openness to new experiences were found to benefit the most from the learning experiences. In addition, having supportive peers, responsible and competent teachers, and high-quality programmes facilitated students’ effective learning.

Professor Daniel SHEK, the leader of the research, said, “The Government has always been supportive of Mainland study programmes that enable young people to gain a better understanding of our country’s development, to learn and broaden their cultural horizons and enhance their sense of belonging. Over the years, PolyU has organised a wide range of Mainland learning programmes with nearly 1,000 students participating each year. However, no systematic evaluation of the effectiveness and impact of the programmes has been conducted in the past, and this study provides an excellent opportunity for us to conduct an in-depth review and make recommendations on policies to enhance the depth and breadth of future programmes.”

Dr Lu YU, who co-led the research with Professor SHEK, added, “It is hoped that the survey will affirm the positive impact of study-in-China programmes on participating students, and the way in which they help enhance young people’s national identity, resulting in a win-win situation for both the Nation and the participants.” She hopes that the study will provide more inspiration for all parties to improve the content and format of short-term study-in-China programmes.

In response to the findings of the study, the research team has made a number of policy recommendations, including integrating relevant programmes into the undergraduate curriculum, allocating extra resources to support the programmes, establishing a resource-sharing platform and providing training for programme leaders, with a view to enhancing the quality and quantity of the programmes in a comprehensive way.

Major Findings of the Study

1)    Students reported higher levels of intercultural competence in terms of both intercultural effectiveness and intercultural communication awareness after completion of the programmes (including cultural exchange, summer school and service learning programmes). The impact was significant for all three types of programme.

2)    Participants showed more positive perceptions about Mainland China and more positive attitudes toward its people after joining the programmes. Both summer term and service learning programmes had a significant and positive impact on students’ development in this area.

3)    The programmes promoted students’ identification with the identity of a Chinese citizen, the perceived importance of the identity of a Chinese citizen and as a member of the Chinese race, as well as the perceived strengths of all four types of identities (as a Hong Kong citizen, a Chinese citizen, a citizen of the PRC, and a member of the Chinese race).

4)    More improvement in intercultural communication awareness was observed in students with prior experiences in joining such programmes and those with higher expectations about the programmes enhancing this developmental outcome.

5)    A higher parental educational level was associated with more positive changes of students’ perceptions about Mainland China, less increase in their self-identification as a Hong Kong citizen, and in their perceived strength and importance of this identity.

6)    Students with no prior experiences in any short-term study-in-China programmes showed more positive changes in their identity as a citizen of the PRC, and their perceived strength and importance of this identity than those who had joined such programmes before.

7)    At the personal level, strong internal motivation, positive and proactive attitudes toward the programmes, and openness to new experiences were identified as critical factors contributing to students’ learning gains from the programmes.

8)    At the programme level, highly motivational peers, responsible and knowledgeable teachers, and high programme quality (with clear objectives, carefully-designed activities and appropriate schedules) were perceived as facilitators to students’ effective learning gains.

Policy recommendations proposed by the research team:

– Further promote short-term study-in-China programmes by allocating extra resources, setting up specific funds, strengthening collaboration with Mainland China and integrating relevant programmes into the undergraduate curriculum. Instead of a mandatory requirement, students should be strongly encouraged to join in a voluntary manner.

– Promote the integration of short-term study-in-China experiences into undergraduate studies and strengthen the service learning element in the undergraduate curriculum.

– Identify and introduce high-quality programmes as examples of best practices and foster information exchange among universities through a common platform.

– Enhance students’ motivation through orientation workshops, student leader schemes and team-building activities.

– Build up the capacity of programme leaders through systematic training and evaluation.

– Build up positive public perceptions of study-in-China programme experience by disseminating publicity materials and creating opportunities for participants to share their experiences to the public.

– Utilise the positive influence of the media to promote Chinese culture to the general public and enhance their direct exposure to Mainland society through service/voluntary opportunities.

– Support long-term research projects to evaluate and document the long-term impact of study-in-China programme experiences.

Acknowledgement:

The research project (Project Number: 2018.A6.113.18C) is funded by the Public Policy Research Funding Scheme from the Policy Innovation and Co-ordination Office of The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The press release PolyU research reveals that short-term study-in-China programmes promote local university students’ intercultural competence and understanding of Mainland China comes from Xinwengao.com press release distribution and journalist media database service in China.