Eton Online Ventures, a trading subsidiary of Eton College, has announced the formation of a joint venture with Eighteen70 to create a new company called EtonX. EtonX will partner with leading schools in China to deliver courses built on Eton’s style of education.
Simon Walsh, founder of the education technology provider Eighteen70, has been appointed as CEO of EtonX. James Stanforth, Head of Digital Education at Eton has been appointed as Course Director of EtonX. Eton College will invest profits derived from this joint venture into its Bursary programme.(1)
In September 2015, EtonX will launch in China with the Modern Leadership Programme which will focus on key skills development in areas such as communication and collaboration. The programme aims to enhance the educational approach prevalent in many Chinese high schools better to prepare Chinese students for higher education and the modern workplace.
The Modern Leadership Programme is a blended course consisting of three components: 1. An interactive online learning platform with multimedia content developed by Eton. 2. One-to-one live online tuition delivered by Eton-trained tutors based in the UK. 3. In-class collaborative small group activities which are facilitated by teachers from the students’ own school.
Schools are fully supported by teachers from Eton who will travel to China to train and collaborate with the participating local teachers. James Stanforth, Head of Digital Education at Eton explained “Eton has a long history educating students to the highest standard. Through EtonX we will be able to share our best teaching practices and our tested course programme with Chinese teachers and give Chinese students the opportunity to practise their collaboration and communication skills. We’re excited to take Eton into this new online project.”
EtonX CEO Simon Walsh said, “Eighteen70 was founded with the objective of humanising digital education through one-to-one live online tutoring. By using our established online tutoring platform, we enable students to access this innovative Eton course.”
