New Delhi: As education recedes into the pandemic, online higher education company upGrad said on Saturday it was seeing a great response from grade 2 and 3 city and small town learners in India and that it would take the opportunity to follow its advanced technological education. solutions via virtual classrooms deeper in the country.

upGrad, which offers over 100 courses in collaboration with top global / local universities such as Deakin Business School (Australia), Duke CE (US), Michigan State University (US), Liverpool Business School (UK) United), IIT Madras (India)), IIM Kozhikode (India) and others, has enabled over 10 registered lakh learners in over 50 countries around the world.

“Beyond working professionals and lifelong learners, we are seeing a great response across age groups in India from all over the country. The proportion of small towns in India has increased dramatically on our graph because the pandemic has sent thousands home and they are joining online courses from their hometowns, ”Mayank Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO, told IANS. upGrad.

According to Kumar, the pandemic has caused tectonic shit in online education and higher education is experiencing a tremendous surge across the world.

Co-founded by entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala, Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli in 2015, upGrad has achieved an annual income rate (ARR) of $ 165 million and maintains a strong network of over 20 national and international universities.

What sets it apart from other online gamers is “deep personalization,” where counselors take charge of virtually every learner for the duration of the course.

Each student over a year of age goes through more than 50 individual coaching sessions from their future hiring managers / business leaders and receives personalized job recommendations based on their experience, skills and background. his personal ambition.

As a result, the course completion rate is 80%, which is unprecedented in online education globally, according to the company.

“We are seeking collaborations with more Indian higher education institutions to broaden our reach and benefit more and more learners in the country,” said Kumar, an IIT-Delhi alumnus who has over 10 years. years of experience in education as an investor and advisor.

Earlier this week, upGrad announced the acquisition of video learning solutions provider Impartus, committing more than Rs 150 crore to the buyout as well as to boost its growth and consolidate its presence in university education.

Impartus, now a wholly-owned subsidiary of upGrad, has been renamed “upGrad Campus”.

“UpGrad Campus” will have two commercial verticals. While under the B2C vertical, it will offer several employment-oriented courses, under the B2B vertical, these offers will be aimed at higher education institutions (HEI).

The move will allow upGrad to add 50,000 paid learners in the very first year of the acquisition, according to Kumar.

During the 2020 pandemic, more than 450 companies, including ZS Associates, PayTM, Gartner, Flipkart (acquired by Walmart), Accenture and E&Y, have hired more than 1,200 learners from the upGrad talent pool.

From 2021 to March, together with recruitment and staffing solutions company Rekrut India, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of UpGrad, the company enabled more than 2,500 career transitions, with a salary increase of 400% (a packet of Rs 73 lakh per year).

“We don’t offer short-term one-month courses. We offer extensive courses and extend solid knowledge that takes time and many hours. We believe that with the knowledge we offer, our users can use it to their advantage in real life, ”said Kumar.