Hero Group Partners With MIT, University of Cambridge For New EdTech Company ‘Hero Vired’

Indian two-wheeler giant Hero MotoCorp Group is entering the EdTech industry through its startup Hero Vired.

The aim is to offer a mix of programmes for professionals and higher education aspirants.

According to the group, Hero Vired has partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Cambridge, and New York-based e-learning coding website Codecademy.

The partnership would help to provide classes with interactive support as well as peer-to-peer communications and online instructor-led sessions.

As reported, Hero MotoCorp has invested more than Rs 1 crore into the new EdTech startup.

In 1964, the Hero Group first forayed into education.

Then in 2014, it set up the BML Munjal University, which is a residential and private co-educational institution located in Sidhrawali, Gurgaon district, Haryana. It offers a variety of programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate level.

The Vision

The founder and CEO of Hero Vired, Akshay Munjal, told PTI that there is a large young population, which is looking for jobs, currently either unemployed or not meaningfully employed, while on the other hand, there is an industry that is “starved for talent”.

“What we are attempting to do is how do we solve this problem from where it originates," he added.

Hero Vired wants to amplify the government’s vision of a self-reliant India by training professionals with full-time and part-time programmes.

This will include finance and related technologies, integrated programmes in data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence, full-stack development, game design as well as innovation and entrepreneurial thinking.

According to Munjal, India currently faces a unique ‘employability paradox’ where there is a shortage of highly skilled professionals.

But yet graduates find it difficult to secure suitable jobs due to a lack of skill-sets that are imperative for Industry 4.1 (which contains Industry 4.0 with automatic virtual metrology and has a goal to achieve zero defects), the CEO added.

“The government’s Digital India initiative under the National Education Policy underlines the need for strengthening the online learning infrastructure that ensures equitable access to the highest-quality education for all learners and learning flexibility through the academic banking of credits,” he said.

The clear goal is to make sure that the young workforce can be mentored for overall professional development aimed at their future growth.

The EdTech venture would target three segments of students.

This will include those who passed Class XII and looking for quality education, college graduates who are unable to get meaningful employment and working professionals with 0-10 years of experience, looking to upskill and enhance career growth.

There will be two programmes. The first one will be a six-month full-time programme followed by an internship for three to four months and then more than an 11-month-long part-time programme with classes over weekends.

The first session is expected to begin in July for two programmes, while the others will be added gradually with the number of students — capped at 100 per batch and programme.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the programmes will be offered online initially.

Even though the Covid-19 scenario has impacted the traditional education system, it also helped the EdTech industry to grow more in India as well as around the world.

Recently, India’s EdTech giant Byju’s announced its acquisition of the Aakash Educational Services Limited to boost its presence in the test preparation segment in India.

The Bengaluru-based company has also globally launched its 1:1 live online learning platform ‘Byju’s Future School’.

According to EY’s April report: “The user base, reach and engagement on EdTech learning platforms increased manifold on the back of the closure of schools and test preparation centres.”

Investment in India’s EdTech industry in 2020 has also grown by 460 per cent from 2019.