British technology to assist teachers

The Hindu, 8 December 2008

Developing education tools to assist teachers to teach more effectively in schools will be one of the focus areas of RM Education Solutions India, says Terry Sweeney, chief executive officer of the group. Mr. Sweeney, who took over as the CEO of the group recently, was talking to The Hindu in the city on Friday.

The group which started its operation in the State in 2003 is one of the leading providers of Information and Communication Technology services to educational institutions in the United Kingdom.

Some of the educational software and services offered by the company in the U.K. schools include supplying projectors, interactive whiteboards and networking online interface between children, parents and teachers.

“As the Indian economy grows, technology-enabled education will become more accessible to schools here,” said Mr. Sweeney, a former global procurement manager with the British Aerospace.

Technology-enabled education raises the attention level of the students, he said. It has been found that boys are better visual learners and get more engaged in studies when education is imparted through the visual means, said Mr. Sweeney.

“Technology now has become a part of everyday life and making it reflect in schools is very important,” Mr. Sweeney said.

According to him school students in the U.K. even get to work with lego robotics as a part of their science practical.

However, in the Indian context, the priority of the company will be in developing educational content for teachers instead of relying on high-end technology.

“We will develop subject-specific easy teach tools that will assist teachers in coaching their wards better. The tools will be developed in accordance with the requirements of the Indian curriculum.” With a total of 245 staff and growing, RM Education Solutions based in Technopark here is the sole branch in Asia.

The entire management information system meant for educational institutions in the U.K. is developed by a core group from the State, said Mr. Sweeney, a graduate in electrical and electronic engineering from City University and a Master in Business Administration from Oxford Brookes University.

Mr. Sweeney was instrumental in the company’s expansion into the United States. The company hopes to reach out to the schools in India a year’s time.

Headquartered at Oxfordshire, the focus of the company, founded in 1973, has been on making industry standard technologies accessible and appropriate in an educational environment. According to the company web site, education is RM’s passion and its aim is to explore and exploit the potential of Information Technology to improve educational standards.

The company boasts to be one of the first in the world to adopt MS Windows besides pioneering the use of communication technologies such as local area networks (LAN) and the Internet in education.

The Hindu, 8 Dec 2008 

RM ‘slowly and steadily’ getting ready to enter Indian market

The Hindu Business Line, 9 December 2008

Thiruvananthapuram: Slow and steady seems to be the guiding principle at RM Plc.

The UK-based company, which develops ICT products, services and systems for educational institutions, started eyeing India as a possible market a couple of years ago. It then did its homework on the Indian market through a couple of rounds of market research and is now preparing to launch its products in the country.

RM plans to enter the Indian market in 12 to 18 months, says Mr Terry Sweeney, CEO, RM Plc. It is now looking at which products can be sold in the country. The company adopted a similar, slow and steady strategy when it entered the US market in 2003, he explains. It is only over the past year or so that it has ramped up its operations in the US, where it has also acquired a local educational technology company, he points out.

The company, though, has been present in India since 2003 through its subsidiary RM Education Solutions India (RMESI) based at Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram.

RMESI does software development and product support for its parent and has about 250 employees. RM is now looking at what additional work can be routed to RMESI from other companies in the RM group, Mr Sweeney says. The facility in Thiruvananthapuram is expected to continue to grow steadily, he adds.

With revenues of £289.5 million and profit before tax of £15.4 million in the fiscal ended September 30, the company’s growth is healthy, Mr Sweeney believes. And though the economic environment seems rather difficult, he’s optimistic that the company’s focus on the education sector will help it ride out the crisis.

“Education is a priority for any Government, even when the times are tough,” he points out. In the medium term, spending on education is unlikely to fall, though competition in the market for ICT-enabled educational products is likely to get stronger, he adds.

The Hindu Business Line, 9 Dec 2008