Sheffield (UK), December 2010 - Learning Light has published its third report in four years on the state of the eLearning sector in the UK - and this year provides analysis on eLearning in nineteen other countries, too. 'The UK eLearning market 2010' suggests that in the next twelve months, the UK market will grow by no more that 4.76% on the 2009 figure.
The report reveals that, at most, the UK eLearning industry is currently turning over some £472 million a year. Moreover, it reveals that last year's predicted UK market growth - of up to eight percent - was achieved despite the general economic downturn.
Much enhanced compared with Learning Light's previous 2007 and 2009 eLearning market reports, the 2010 version includes interviews with over forty of the UK's leading eLearning companies, along with a number of other organisations and individuals across Europe.
The report concludes that the UK remains the largest but not the fastest-growing European market for eLearning.
Learning Light's analysis of the market indicates that, while France will enjoy considerable growth (7.64% on a market size of £375m), as will Germany (7.75% on £242m), the eLearning markets in most Scandinavian countries will grow faster, albeit from a lower base. The fastest growing eLearning markets are identified as those in Eastern Europe - notably Slovakia - which will be driven by government and EU-funded projects.
One of the report's co-authors, Gillian Broadhead, comments, "While few of our interviewees failed to see the potential for growth in the corporate eLearning market, many also felt that the present economic downturn and the large reductions in government expenditure in the UK will dampen demand."
Her colleague, David Patterson, adds, "In terms of technology trends, we see considerable innovation and potential disruption to business models driven by open-source technologies, mobile and smart devices, e-books, the cloud, and software as a service (SaaS). We retain our fundamental belief that this industry is evolving and will continue to do so, its appetite undiminished in its wish to exploit new technologies, devices, and approaches to deliver effective learning."
"We do, however, remain perplexed", says Glynn Jung, a learning specialist, head of Learning Leadership, and co-author of the report. "Given the widespread acknowledgement that eLearning is now both effective and engaging, it's curious that we're not seeing a greater drive toward the adoption of eLearning by corporate leadership."
This report has informed discussion at the European eLearning Summit, held in Sheffield from 17-19 November. The Summit delegates - Europe's top eLearning strategists, content and systems developers, drawn from the private and public sectors as well as academia - discussed the European and world markets for eLearning and also identified industry trends and today's key eLearning issues.
The Summit was supported by learndirect and by Creativesheffield, who also helped to sponsor 'The UK eLearning market 2010' report.
