Education firms eye new opportunities

Yu said that New Oriental has devoted over 1 billion yuan each year to research and development while Zhang disclosed that TAL has doubled the figure to 2 billion yuan on average per year.

While more companies are paying attention to new opportunities, a group of education firms are looking further afield, aiming to offer Chinese tech to institutions, schools and governments in foreign markets.

NetDragon Websoft Holdings Ltd, a gaming publisher and online education company, is a shining example. In Moscow, capital of Russia, almost all primary and middle schools are equipped with its Promethean smart panels.

According to Xiong Li, CEO of NetDragon, the cutting-edge tech product will benefit 20,000 smart classrooms and 29,000 educators in Russia.

"Our businesses have also expanded to 192 countries and regions, with more than 100 million users and 12 million teachers using our products," Xiong said.

NetDragon, founded in 1999, used to be a leading online gaming provider, but has transformed in the past decade into a diversified business with a focus on education. Elernity, an education subsidiary of NetDragon, has also netted a $150 million strategic investment from Ascendent Capital Partners recently.

The Fuzhou, Fujian province-based company has developed and launched a string of integrated educational devices, including smart boards and panels as well as feedback and evaluation systems, with many of its products and services selling to public schools and governments.

During the summit of the BRICS－Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa－in Brasilia this year, the company was invited to share its experiences in smart education.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian government purchased 265,000 pop-up classrooms from the company.

The classrooms, composed of several building blocks, can be transported easily and only take a few hours to install.

They also leverage technologies to offer a high-tech and comfortable experience to users. For example, they will run on solar power and their appearance can be customized to meet local requirements in different countries.

"The pop-up room has great potential abroad, especially in underdeveloped countries where local governments need to improve educational services on limited budgets," he said.

NetDragon has so far offered its educational services in countries and regions including the United States, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and Turkey, and has accumulated nearly 100 million users worldwide.

"With the new move, we will continue to beef up our presence in markets participating in the Belt and Road Initiative to bring Chinese wisdom to more schools and governments abroad," he added.

However, such business is still in its infancy in China compared with developed countries including the US and those in Europe.

Sheng Xitai, founder of investment company Hongtai Aplus, pointed out that in the US, seven listed B2B and C2B companies have exceeded $100 billion in market value and 28 have hit $10 billion. In China only two such companies have exceeded $10 billion.

"But with the market size and the new wave of mobile internet development continuing to boom in China, a group of great B2B companies will arise in the nation sooner or later," he said.