iCollege thrives as international students return, launching new gaming degrees

While locked up at home throughout the pandemic, the acceleration of online gaming has been a major boon for the game development community which contributed to the rise in demand for labour and just one of the reasons education provider iCollege (ASX: ICT) has been approved to launch new degrees to meet surging demand for talent. 

The new degrees to be launched will be their Bachelor of Games Design, Bachelor of 2D Animation, Bachelor of 3D Animation and Bachelor of Film with all receiving approval from the Australian Government’s Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). With this confirmation, students can now enrol in those degrees through iCollege which will formally launch the courses in August 2022 to both international and domestic students. 

Further boosting enrollment opportunities, they will be integrated into iCollege’s existing education pathways where there are alternative entry opportunities via certificate and diploma programmes. Their launch comes following continued interest in the fields of gaming and animation – where iCollege has a strong presence through Asia – with the Company expecting revenue from the new bachelor degrees to deliver revenue growth from H2 FY23. 

These new degrees may be further promoted through iCollege’s Greenwich business which is set to expand from its current presence in Melbourne and Sydney, into Brisbane. 

Primarily offering English Language Intensive Courses for Overseas Students (ELICOS), Greenwich is an in-classroom education pathway that can now leverage available classroom capacity in Brisbane following iCollege’s acquisition of Red Hill in 2021. 

Expected to commence in July 2022, “The directors are confident that Greenwich will successfully compete in the Brisbane market, and that this geographic expansion will contribute to revenue growth in FY23,” the Company said.

As part of the unique pathway where iCollege now has substantial international infrastructure that can progress students from recruitment to English course, they are then able to advance them through to vocational short courses and ultimately higher education. 

This pathway, where iCollege generate revenue every step of the way, has been a driving factor to the Company’s forecast record cash flows where they have issued FY22 guidance for revenue to be in the range of $46 million – $47 million, up approximately 185% over the previous year (FY21: $16.3m). 

That number will include partial contributions from Red Hill which has now been integrated into the iCollege network, with the Company expecting $10m in positive cash flows for FY22 and a closing cash balance around $30m to be very well capitalised. 

While Australia’s higher education sector was decimated by the pandemic, restricting movement of international students, iCollege was very productive over the period by operating its gateway business around the world in the students’ home countries. 

Upon full resumption of pre-pandemic international travel, iCollege campuses are able to support annual revenue generation of at least $100 million and benefit from international student industry tailwinds.