Abstract
This study aims to give a deeper understanding on emerging business models in the context of education. Industry 4.0/the Industrial Internet in general and especially recent advances in cloud computing enable a new kind of service offering in the education sector and lead to new business models for education: Education-as-a-Service (EaaS). Within EaaS, learning, and teaching contents are delivered as services. By combining a literature review with a qualitative case study, this paper makes a three-fold contribution to the field of business models in education: First, we provide a theoretical definition for a common understanding of EaaS. Second, we present the state-of-the-art research on this new paradigm. Third, in the case study we describe a “best practices” business model of an existing EaaS provider. These insights build a theoretical foundation for further research in this area. The paper concludes with a research agenda for further research in this emerging field.
Highlights
In the age of Industry 4.0/the Industrial Internet and especially the Internet of Things (IoT), education and new forms of education delivery gain a new importance
We proposed a business model for EaaS providers, based on the literature and a case study of a well-established EaaS provider
The literature showed that there is an increasing number of publications referring to the EaaS model in recent years, which underlines the growing importance of this topic in higher education
Summary
In the age of Industry 4.0/the Industrial Internet and especially the Internet of Things (IoT), education and new forms of education delivery gain a new importance. Technologies such as cloud computing empower new forms of education delivery and have a high impact on the education sector. Cloud computing is the enabler for new concepts like Education-as-a-Service (EaaS). It can “offer a unique business model for higher education that will transform the way modern education is delivered” [1]. Cloud computing can provide the necessary resources for life-long learning and competency building in the area of Industry 4.0
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