Dive Brief:
- Textbook publishing giant Pearson Education reported $3.2 billion in losses in 2016, as a result of the rapid decline in traditional text production and bookselling. But the company is looking to rebound with new investments in digital learning delivery and e-book rentals.
- Pearson Education has invested $62 million in revitalizing its courseware platforms, and has slashed costs for more than 2,000 books in its digital access collection.
- The company also plans to sell its sizable share in another publishing house company, and to seek new partnerships with international learning platform corporations, such as Wall Street English.
Dive Insight:
The publishing industry is one of the primary casualties of the rapid expansion of personal technology and digital service delivery, which for many colleges and universities, should create new gains in procuring learning materials at substantial savings. Community colleges have been at the forefront of this shift, with several four-year institutions also working to digitize textbook access and revenue streams.
Seeking, implementing and promoting these systems of material access are keys to serving the affordability needs of students, while advancing the college enterprise as a responsible business sector worthy of investment.