Citation
(2002), "E-learning "set to boom" in Europe", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 26 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2002.00326fab.004
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited
E-learning "set to boom" in Europe
E-learning "set to boom" in Europe
The European e-learning sector looks set to become a boom industry over the next few years, says Enterprise Ireland, the Irish Government's trade and technology body.
It has carried out a survey which reveals that Britain leads Europe on e-learning expenditure, and UK investment in e-learning will continue to increase in 2002-2003 as 83 per cent of companies look to increase or maintain their training budgets. With 73 per cent of UK companies already using e-learning courses, results indicate an increasing year on year shift away from delivering training programmes by instructor-led training towards e-learning. Additionally, 32 per cent of UK companies with no e-learning quota at present are set to implement online training in the next two years.
"The UK is clearly driving the uptake of e-learning in Europe," commented Patricia McLister, director of the software, telecom and e-business services division of Enterprise Ireland. "European spending on e-learning is set to exceed £3 billion by 2004. Our findings show that, with increased employee acceptance and the development of more e-training courses that concentrate on delivering non IT skills, the European e-learning sector looks set to become a boom industry over the next few years."
Employees surveyed delivered a positive reaction to e-learning, with only 3 per cent stating that they had disliked the course. The overwhelming majority of companies believed e-learning to be a cost-effective, time-saving, convenient and flexible method of training staff. Human resource managers highlighted the increased measurability and productivity of such courses compared to instructor-led training.
The survey indicates that e-learning will become more important in areas outside its traditional bastions of IT and financial services – especially in the training of "soft" skills such as human resource management.
"With the expected boom in the UK market, the host of innovative Irish companies specializing in e-learning infrastructure and course provision look set to capitalize on this opportunity, perhaps at the expense of more established training and software vendors," said Patricia McLister.