Since 2011, Online Education Services (OES) has been changing the face of tertiary education. The company presents a fresh approach to traditional education by offering courses that can be taken solely online. Just five years after launching its first offering, OES now has more than 8,000 students enrolled in its 20 undergraduate and postgraduate university courses, and five TAFE diplomas.
According to the CEO of OES, Denice Pitt, the company provides access to tertiary education for people who would otherwise not have the opportunity.
She says, “The student population we work with is skewed towards women; 70% are female, in fact. Approximately 25% live in regional or remote areas, and 24% are from low socioeconomic backgrounds.
“It’s a very different market than what you would typically see on campus. The students we work with are mostly older, have work and family commitments, and choose online because they are unwilling or unable to study on campus.”
OES works with a vast demographic of students with an average age of 32—much older than the traditional school-leaver aged students found on campus. Given these students are generally older, online education has become a catalyst to advance careers or pursue new career paths.