His mission is simple, but the job is quite complex. “When I founded Educate Online in the US in 2018, the mission was to provide high-quality education to every child anywhere in the world,” says Alexander Zheltov, founder and CEO of Educate Online. “There have been challenges, as well as achievements, but the good news is that we have been able to place more than 4,000 students in online and in-person programmes in educational institutions globally,” he told FE’s Vikram Chaudhary. Excerpts:
There are hundreds of edtech companies that help students study abroad. How is Educate Online different?
In my opinion, our age-specific solutions give us an edge – the study-abroad needs of a 10-year-old student are different from a 20-year-old’s.
For example, we offer Dual Diploma for students aged 14-19, in which we provide online education at schools in the US, UK and Canada. Students can combine their local studies with the curriculum at American or Canadian schools. This way, while they remain with their parents/guardians at home, they are actually learning at two places – the regular school in their home location, and at a foreign school.
A major benefit of this ‘extra learning’ is that students can study subjects that are not available in their local school, and therefore they can expand their knowledge and study specific career-focused subjects.
But what purpose does it serve?
The purpose is simple – students will have a head-start when they decide to go in for higher education. The diplomas they receive from us are internationally-recognised and accepted by the best – such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, London School of Economics and University of Toronto, among many others. In fact, in most cases, students get guaranteed admissions to global universities.
Your website says you also offer full-time studies in foreign schools. What exactly is that?
Yes, with our full-time study programmes, students take an entire curriculum remotely with a school in Canada or the US. Upon successful completion, they will be awarded an internationally-recognised diploma.
Effectively, these students are studying at an international school just as if they attended it personally. A benefit is that they can study subjects that are not available in local schools. The diploma they get is identical to the one that is awarded at graduation to a student from Canada, the UK or the US.
The biggest benefit here is that students (and their parents) can save anywhere between $30,000 and $120,000 per year by studying remotely, following the same programme as they would have done in person.
What exactly can you offer Indian students?
Competing with European and North American students for admission to global universities isn’t easy. Indian syllabi – including CBSE, state boards and ICSE – often fall short in international recognition, placing Indian students at a disadvantage during university admissions abroad.
Our aim is to give Indian students an extra edge so that they can compete with foreign students in securing admissions to global universities.
What else do you offer?
The knowledge of the English language is a big plus point if you want to study in the West. Towards that, we help all levels of students to learn English (from beginner to advanced levels). We have a programme to prepare students for ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages), in which students learn English from native English-speaking teachers, and get a better understanding of what English sounds like in everyday use, how words are pronounced, and common phrases and expressions.
We also have a Speaking Club – a weekly offering for Educate Online students, which, in addition to making them better in the language, also improves their soft skills such as communication, self-confidence and the overall personality.
