Education players, trends, and how to crack the cases
Examples of education players by region, the edtech reset and policy changes of 2024 to 2026, regulation basics, and typical case prompts.
Industry brief, with a one-minute summary: Education and edtechFirm processes and online tests change from year to year and differ by office. Use this to prepare, and confirm the exact current steps on the firm's own careers page.
Key takeaways
- Education is heavily regulated and politically sensitive. In any education case, check what the government allows (fees, profits, visas, curriculum) before you build the business answer.
- Common traps in education cases: Ignoring who pays: a parent, a government, and an employer decide differently.
- Edtech reset and consolidation. Byju's parent Think and Learn was admitted into insolvency in July 2024.
- AI changed demand. Chegg, a homework help company, cut about 45 percent of its staff in October 2025 and said AI search summaries had cut its traffic.
- Tighter student visas. Canada set its 2026 study permit cap at about 408,000, about 7 percent lower than the 2025 target, after earlier cuts.
Key idea
Education is heavily regulated and politically sensitive. In any education case, check what the government allows (fees, profits, visas, curriculum) before you build the business answer.
| Region | Examples | Sourced facts |
|---|---|---|
| India | Public and private schools; PhysicsWallah, Allen, upGrad (which agreed in 2026 to buy Unacademy); Byju's (in insolvency proceedings) | UDISE+ 2024-25 reports more than 1 crore (10 million) school teachers for the first time; PhysicsWallah listed on Indian exchanges in November 2025; Byju's parent was admitted into insolvency in July 2024 |
| Gulf | GEMS Education, Taaleem, Aldar Education, many international schools | Dubai planned 26 new private education institutions for 2026-27; for-profit school fee increases for 2025-26 were capped at 2.35 percent, and fees were frozen for 2026-27 |
| Global online learning | Coursera (combined with Udemy), Duolingo, Chegg, 2U | Coursera completed its combination with Udemy in May 2026; Chegg cut about 45 percent of staff in October 2025, citing AI |
| China | New Oriental, TAL Education | The 2021 Double Reduction policy required core-subject tutoring for school-age children to be non-profit |
So-what
The edtech boom of 2020 and 2021 turned into a reset; profitable, lower-price, and hybrid models survived better.
Trends from 2024 to 2026 (checked September 2026)
- Edtech reset and consolidation. Byju's parent Think and Learn was admitted into insolvency in July 2024. PhysicsWallah, known for low-price courses, listed in November 2025. Coursera and Udemy completed their combination in May 2026, creating a larger online skills platform. In India, upGrad agreed in 2026 to buy Unacademy for a small fraction of its 2021 value, and India's competition regulator cleared the deal.
- AI changed demand. Chegg, a homework help company, cut about 45 percent of its staff in October 2025 and said AI search summaries had cut its traffic. AI tutors put pressure on simple question-and-answer products, while raising demand for AI skills courses.
- Tighter student visas. Canada set its 2026 study permit cap at about 408,000, about 7 percent lower than the 2025 target, after earlier cuts. Other destinations, including Australia and the UK, also tightened rules, which hurts universities that depend on international fees.
- Private school growth in the Gulf. Dubai keeps adding private schools as its population grows (26 new private education institutions, 7 of them schools, were planned for 2026-27), while its regulator caps yearly fee rises and allowed no increase at all for 2026-27, announced in May 2026.
- India regulated coaching. In January 2024, India's Ministry of Education issued guidelines for coaching centres, including no enrolment below age 16 and no misleading promises of ranks; states are asked to enforce them.
Schools and universities need licences or accreditation and follow curriculum rules. Some places cap fee increases, such as Dubai. In India, schools must be run by non-profit trusts or societies, so investors often earn through service contracts rather than school profits. China restricted for-profit tutoring in core school subjects in 2021. Student visa rules decide how many international students universities can admit. Child safety, data privacy for minors, and consumer protection for course sales apply to edtech.
| Prompt | Case type | Structure hint | First driver to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Should a school group open a new school in Riyadh? | Market entry | Demand by curriculum and fee band, competition, regulation, ramp-up | Unmet demand in the target fee band and curriculum |
| An edtech company is losing money despite growth | Unit economics and subscription businesses | Price, contribution per learner, CAC, renewal, completion | CAC against first-year contribution |
| A UK university faces a fall in international students | Declining industry and turnaround | Revenue by student type, cost base, new markets, online | Share of revenue from international fees |
| How can a government raise school quality in a region? | Public, social, and non-profit cases | Teachers, curriculum, funding, measurement | Teacher numbers and training against student outcomes |
| Should a private equity fund buy a K-12 school group? | Mergers, acquisitions, and due diligence | Utilization, fee regulation, reputation, expansion pipeline | Utilization and re-enrolment rates by school |
So-what
Education cases start with regulation and demand, then utilization for schools or CAC and retention for edtech.
See the Market entry, Unit economics and subscription businesses, and Public, social, and non-profit cases modules for the full method, and Guesstimates and market sizing for sizing prompts such as the number of tutoring students in a city.
Ignoring who pays: a parent, a government, and an employer decide differently. Forgetting fee caps and profit rules. Treating a new school's early losses as failure without checking normal ramp-up. Counting edtech sign-ups instead of paying, active, and renewing learners. Assuming online learning always replaces classrooms, when hybrid models often retain better.
Why do many consumer edtech companies lose money even when they grow fast?
A school in Dubai wants to grow revenue 10 percent next year. Why is raising fees not the main lever?
What changed for China's tutoring industry in 2021?
Sources for this lesson (13)
- Government of India PIB: UDISE+ 2024-25 report on school education
- Khaleej Times: Dubai to open 26 new private education institutions in 2026-27
- Gulf News: Dubai Education Cost Index set at 2.35 percent for 2025-26
- Khaleej Times: Dubai's KHDA confirms no increase in private school fees for the next academic year (May 2026)
- Taaleem Holdings: earnings release for the nine months to 31 May 2026 (July 2026)
- YourStory: competition regulator clears upGrad's acquisition of Unacademy (2026)
- India TV News: Ministry of Education guidelines for coaching centres (January 2024)
- Business Standard: PhysicsWallah IPO to list on 18 November 2025
- Business Standard: NCLT admits Byju's parent into insolvency (July 2024)
- Coursera: completes combination with Udemy (May 2026)
- CNBC: Chegg cuts 45 percent of its workforce, citing AI (October 2025)
- CIC News: Canada announces its 2026 study permit cap (November 2025)
- Central Committee and State Council: opinions on reducing homework and off-campus tutoring, the Double Reduction policy (July 2021, in Chinese)
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