MANILA – The number of people accessing university education through online platforms more than doubled between 2019 and 2024, highlighting both the growing role of online learning and the challenges that come with its expansion, according to the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE).
ICDE said users accessing university education programs through online platforms rose from 12.9 million in 2019 to 31.4 million in 2024.
The growth was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which pushed universities to integrate online learning into conventional higher education.
But University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) Chancellor Joane Serrano said the expansion of online education has also exposed gaps in access and institutions’ capacity to deliver it.
“Despite its accessibility, online learning continues to face challenges including unequal internet access, digital literacy gaps, institutional readiness, privacy and cybersecurity risks, and ensuring integrity of assessments,” Serrano said during a press conference in Taguig on Saturday.
Education stakeholders discussed these issues during knowledge dialogues organized by UPOU and ICDE in Cebu on Sept. 23 and by the Asian Development Bank on Sept. 25.
The discussions focused on how online and flexible learning can become more inclusive, scalable and sustainable, particularly as institutions continue to adapt to changes in how students access education.
ICDE Secretary General Torunn Gjelsvik said addressing these challenges requires cooperation while taking into account the conditions of individual communities and countries.
“Through this conference, we aim to examine the developments in open and distance education in order to exchange ideas and collaborate on finding solutions to jointly address these challenges,” Gjelsvik said.
The discussions will continue at the 31st ICDE World Conference, which will be held in Cebu from Nov. 15 to 19, 2027. It will be the first time the international conference will be hosted in the Philippines.
The conference will carry the theme “Reimagining Education for a Sustainable Future.”