Macmillan English Campus in Asia

Macmillan English Campus now has over 80,000 users in places as diverse as Italy, Russia and Hong Kong.

One of the areas where e-learning has been expanding at the greatest rate is Asia, as growing internationalization means that the English language is in ever greater demand.

Since February, Macmillan English Campus has been attracting significant interest in Asia with the aid of Patrick Hafenstein, our Sales Executive, based in Taiwan.

He's been talking to potential customers and attending conferences in the region, as well as exploring how and why the Macmillan English Campus is generating such an e-learning buzz.

We caught up with Patrick to find out more.

Why do you think that e-learning is such a hot topic in Asia at the moment?

Where I'm based, in Taiwan, the government is putting a huge amount of money into an initiative known as 'the three Es' - education, English and electronic learning. This means that language institutions are increasingly looking for ways to implement e-learning. The Macmillan English Campus, of course, provides an ideal solution because it fits perfectly with all of the 'three Es'.

To take a different example: in Vietnam, language schools, which are often run by foreigners, are becoming increasingly enthusiastic about the competitive edge provided by e-learning and the potential it offers for attracting new students.

What is it about the English Campus that makes it so appropriate for this region?

Institutions which have seen Campus have been really impressed by its flexibility and by the ability it provides to design custom courses. For example, Taiwanese universities cater for a wide variety of language abilities among their students, and yet they all have to reach a particular level of English in order to graduate. The Macmillan English Campus can provide the university with a single solution to meet that variety of needs.

Where do you see the future of e-learning in Asia?

Asian trade is becoming increasingly international, so the demand for English is only going to increase. In Japan, for example, there has been a great deal of interest from corporate customers. The market is also increasingly driven by the need for academic qualifications and many people are trying to raise their English to a level where they can carry out postgraduate study abroad.

People like this can really benefit from institutions offering the English Campus because it makes it easy for teachers to set work to do outside the classroom, which can be completed anywhere with an internet connection. This is really useful for people trying to combine English learning with already busy lives.