The new graphite Amazon Kindle e-reading device stands beside a pile of books. Chinese people have begun to get used to the digitalized way of reading and learning. [Photo / Agencies]

E-books provide convenience in education sector

BEIJING - It's 9 pm on a Tuesday in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. Back from a day packed with client visits to hotels, Steve Wang, senior sales manager of Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co Ltd, switched on his laptop and logged on to the Internet.

First he read several business articles, and then began to study the e-learning course scheduled to be completed that week. One hour's reading and learning was pleasant and inspiring - and easily accessed through the Learning Management System provided by China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) Publishing Group.

Zhou Xuelin, president of CEIBS Publishing Group

Wang, like many other managers in China, has begun to get used to the digitalized way of reading and learning. A computer and the Internet have replaced the heavy books, magazines or reading materials of the past, making reading and learning easier, quicker and more flexible than ever.

"The traditional publishing industry is struggling desperately with the rise of new digital and information technologies, thus integration with the emerging technology, in one way or another, seems to be the only way forward," said Zhou Xuelin, president of CEIBS Publishing Group, in an interview with China Daily.

Founded in 2008, the group is a joint venture between CEIBS and Shanghai-based Chengwei Ventures.

In addition to traditional ways of publishing via books, magazines and journals, the group is experimenting with emerging digital technologies to meet the increasing demand of the corporate world for management training. It has developed more than 200 management courses for business executives, said Zhou.

China's digital publishing industry brought in revenues of 79.9 billion yuan ($11.88 billion) by the end of 2009, up 50 percent from the previous year, exceeding that from traditional publishing for the first time, according to the General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP).

"Digitization is pushing the publishing industry into a new historical period and offering unprecedented opportunities," said Sun Shoushan, deputy director of GAPP.

Display Search, a global market research and consulting company, forecasts China will overtake the United States as the world's largest e-reader market before 2015 by virtue of the country's large population.

Today, people have virtually free access to an unlimited volume of information through the Internet and other electronic means. As a result, an increasing number of people turn to the Internet or digital reader for important information.

Zhou pointed out that the negative impact of such a change in reading behavior is beginning to show: Both the subscription and advertising for newspapers and journals for example, which have been the two major sources of revenue for the traditional publishing business, are falling rapidly at a speed of more than 25 percent annually.

Advertisers are directing budgets toward channels that are able to generate more qualified sales leads. Except for the market leaders, most Chinese magazines are having an extremely difficult time in 2010, he said.

However, because the group is connected with the business school, Zhou found a way forward: the e-learning market.

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"As we are embarking upon a new wave of teaching and learning methodologies, e-learning is becoming - more than ever before - a viable alternative, and increasingly an integral component of the educational development process," he said.

Forecasts from US-based Global Industry Analysts indicate that the global e-learning market will be a $52.6-billion sector by 2010 with the United States alone accounting for 60 percent of it.

In comparison, the adoption of e-learning as an important complement to traditional face-to-face classroom learning, still lags far behind in Asia. However, it is expected that the Asian market will grow by 25 percent to 30 percent annually in the next decade, said Zhou.

"This provides a huge opportunity for our group. Despite being a new entrant in this market, we are already well established as a leading e-learning provider in the field of management," he said.

Many top business schools around the world have their own publishing houses, such as Harvard Business School Press and Wharton Business School Press. They are well established and have attracted top professors to produce influential management titles.

In China, compared with other business schools, CEIBS is the only business school that has an independent publishing house.

CEIBS Publishing house is more focused on "Chinese practice with a global perspective", said Zhou.

With China playing an increasingly significant role in the global economy, China- related business cases and studies are very popular in the global market. "Our group's proposition is that we are the ones who understand Chinese business practices," Zhou added.