The article was prepared by wecom.agency communication agency
The crisis changed the approach to education; many had to rebuild their online processes. Consumer behavior has changed too. We talked with the heads of Kazakhstani educational centers and found out how they work now.
Alina Abdrakhmanova, 27 years old, Taraz, Director of Geneva Business School Kazakhstan
As a university, we are different from other educational platforms. We have our community of students, so we plan to return to the offline format as soon as possible. The transition to the online format was not difficult. We introduced the possibility of training in VR because it is 25% cheaper. Also, we are introducing different approaches to make training more effective and would not lag far behind offline learning. It is difficult to say whether the number of students will decrease - the academic year begins only in September.
Dana Sultanbaeva, 23 years old, Pavlodar, manager for education abroad
Our center is 10 years old this year. We represent foreign universities, each of them has its own rules, some allow studying on campus, some will teach the first semester online.
Tuition fees have not changed yet. But universities have begun to provide more loyal conditions to flexible discounts, convenient and soft conditions for enrollment.
The competition in online education has grown, but we have been around for a long time, and people know us, so they use our service. The online format gave us more options. Now the distance between the candidate and the university is shrinking, which makes it possible to make the right choice by country, university, program of study.
Igor Rybkin, 32 years old, Derzhavinsk, development director of the Academy "Shag" @itstep.astana
The Academy in Kazakhstan is 7 years old this year. There were certain problems when going online, but we are solving them. Even if there are communication problems, the entire lesson is recorded or it is possible to conduct an extra lesson with the teacher and discuss it. The competition has not changed, the formats and approaches to reporting to the client in the educational sphere did.
Some clients are not satisfied with the online format. However, the number of students has decreased not only for this reason. This is the situation on the market: people began to save more.
Asan Parzhanov, 26 years old, Kentau, co-founder of "SpasiBeaucoup"
We quickly transferred everything online in March. Since 2018, we have had students studying on Skype. We provided several classrooms with a network for those teachers who are unable to work from home.
The number of students has decreased; about 40% of clients do not want to recognize distance learning. Therefore, since March, we have been using reserve money to pay employees’ salaries. We are not raising prices, because in February, before the quarantine, we set a new price list.
Gulzhazira Bayzhumanova, 35 years old, Karaganda, director of the Alevel.kz educational center
It was not difficult to make online lessons. Now we use Skype, Zoom and Goоgle Classroom.
Many clients believe that online training is ineffective, in particular, due to technical failures. Therefore, the number of students has decreased. Prices have not changed since the approach has remained the same: the teacher devotes the same amount of time to the student as in offline classes. But we provide bonus classes and lessons.
We had competition even during offline training. But we have a more comprehensive approach: in addition to basic training, we help students register on the websites of universities and colleges, pay the cost of the exam and provide study materials.
WE communication agency is an agency with expertise in PR and digital promotion, which has been working in the advertising and marketing of Central Asia and Kazakhstan for over 17 years.
