Panel SA: Hybrid exchange should remain in the post-pandemic, says education company

The reopening of borders and the current moment of exchange favored study trips and exchanges, but the hybrid model should remain, even after the pandemic is over, according to the predictions of Eduardo Santos, director of EF Education First. He claims the hybrid jumped from 12% to 15% to 34%.

“Although borders are open to travel again, people have not necessarily stopped privileging part of the journey with digital solutions”, he says.

Is the exchange market in a better moment of the pandemic and exchange? Did it have any effect? Without a doubt, this mental model that the pandemic is over, with borders reopened, is one of the elements of good time for business. Now, what we have observed is that more than bringing us the desire to return to travel and exchange, when you look at executives and large organizations that demand the development of human capital, there is a new concept of skills and behaviors that professionals had to learn very fast.

The volume of business has increased absurdly, yes, because borders have reopened and people want to travel to take a short or long-term course of executive education or exchange. But this pent-up demand is mainly being driven by this advent of a super fast new economic environment. So not only borders, but the need for new skills, has been what has driven our business.

Are people looking to travel now to catch up with the new culture brought about by the pandemic? With the dynamics of changes that we have experienced in recent years, they are looking for courses that give an individual the ability, in a short period of time, to obtain skills, learn new behaviors, learn new tools to return to their business and be able to collaborate internationally, lead an innovation journey and learn this new management model.

The recovery has boosted the search for content abroad, whether through a digital solution or a hybrid model. You can combine distance training with short trip training to speed up. I myself am in one of our internal decision strategies program where I spend a week here in Brazil, using a digital solution, and then I go to London for three days of immersion.

How big is the share of this hybrid model before and after the pandemic in your business? In 2019, 10% to 15% of our revenue came from hybrid models. A good part of our business was either 100% face-to-face, those people who traveled to take the courses, or 100% digital. At the end of our first half of the fiscal year, there was an increase of almost 64% in our revenues. Of this total new sales, the hybrid jumped from 12% to 15% to 34%, that is, we practically doubled the experience.

We’re delivering twice as many learning experiences combining technology and face-to-face as we did in 2019. And we’re getting ready to continue scaling that because digital has proven itself. The barriers that organizations had with digital have dropped.

And the exchange rate, what has the new level already brought you? Here in Brazil, of course, from the decision point of view, especially for the final consumer, the exchange rate is a big factor. We experienced an interesting volume of sales during the pandemic in which people, despite the super high exchange rate, said they wanted to buy the course, even without knowing when they could travel.

Of course, there is an economic decision to be made, but that was not essential. Now, for organizations, knowing that they can combine face-to-face with digital, exchange has not been a limiting factor. He is a factor, perhaps of instruction. At times, you may have to slightly increase the digital presence in the learning journey and decrease the exposure to an international trip, if there is an investment constraint.

So, I think the cool thing about this story is that, despite the borders being open to travel again, people have not necessarily stopped privileging part of the journey with digital solutions.

With corporate clients, we have combined learning journeys where the client starts in Brazil through online English learning solutions to develop, and then, once ready, he travels to spend a few weeks abroad taking an executive education course. Of course, there are budget and investment capacity factors in which the exchange appears on the discussion table, but we manage to put other solutions on the table that involve online.

And the cost of airfare, which has also gone up, how does it impact?In organizations, the cost of travel is a definite factor in determining the number of people. I’ve seen a lot of companies combining international business travel with a week before or after to get out there and take a course. I have seen this creativity to compose an international course. People are starting to visit headquarters again, and face-to-face meetings outside are back.

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Graduated in Information Technology from IBTA (Brazilian Institute of Advanced Technology), he has a specialization in organizational leadership from Ashridge Executive Education, from Hult International Business School. He is Managing Director of Hult EF Corporate Education, a division of EF Education First.