Online tutoring company TutorVista (TVA) has launched a cross-promotion with publishers Harper Collins (HC). Students who buy specific educational books published by HC will receive a two-week free trial of TVA. Online marketing is the main route to market for TVA and so this new approach will be interesting to watch, particularly as HC is part of News Corporation whose interest in education seems to be growing (see Sky Learning story).

When we last wrote about TVA in June 2006 they had just raised £1.1m from a group of investors including Sequoia Capital India. Since then, their push into the US market has not been particularly successful with just 2000 students signed up. In the UK they are aiming for 5000 students which at £50 per month would have the local business turning over approximately £3m. While this is a far better performance than in the US, it would hardly push the company into the front rank of local tutoring businesses. It is also not clear whether the 500 tutors at TVA’s Bangalore office are qualified teachers or what their understanding of the UK curriculum is.

While TVA’s use of technology is interesting it’s hardly revolutionary and while outsourcing services to India may be cost effective, we suspect that this will not be a key issue in the purchase decision of local parents.

www.harpercollins.co.uk

www.tutorvista.co.uk