OPM, meet OPX. New models & the $3.5B global online higher education services market.

There are currently 80+ OPX providers working with 500+ global universities to support all aspects of the design, development and delivery of online higher education. This $3.5B market is growing at 15% to $7.8B by 2025.

Of our 4,900+ OPX Program dataset, 1 in 3 are business credentials, nearly 1 in 5 are from healthcare and just under 1 in 10 are in STEM.

The US currently dominates the global OPX landscape with over 80% share, however, this will shrink to just under 75% over the next five years as the global appetite for the OPX model gains traction.

OPX is a new category, collectively defining the entire spectrum of services models supporting Universities in the design, development and delivery of online higher education.

The OPX category is a $3.5B+ market today, growing at 15% to an estimated $7.8B in 2025 and includes OPM, OPE, MOOC-as-an-OPM and new hybrid and innovative models.

The US currently represents over 80% of the global OPX market size, however it is expected that global players and markets will be growing at a faster rate to 2025.

Many in higher education are still only just learning of the acronym OPM. Various players are advocating ‘Enabling’ roles, branding as ‘OPEs’ to differentiate and represent a different model and/or approach. Meanwhile, MOOCs such as Coursera, EdX and FutureLearn are well established now in supporting Universities with full degree programs and a growing part of the online services landscape.

New models such as Instride, Cintana and even Outlier join the ranks of Straighterline and others driving innovation from the edge, as a network or as ‘outcome’ pathways.

Finally, evolving models like Minerva and OpenLearning bring proprietary technology and curriculum to play in new and exciting ways for institutions. Enter OPX. The meta-category that stretches from B2B, to B2B2C and sometimes even B2C.

Emerging trends provide directional signals about the future shape of the OPX Market. We built 4 OPX Scenarios for 2030 based on two of the most discussed dimensions.

Outsource-Insource. Will Universities embrace the OPX and continue to ‘outsource’ the capabilities and resources that OPX offers, or will they seek to build those capabilities in-house and manage the entire online spectrum over the long-run?

Consolidation-Fragmentation. Will online higher education consolidate towards an oligopoly of global giants, akin to the broader technology sector or are we more likely to see a highly disbursed and fragmented market of ‘suppliers’ that represent vendor relationships more than partnerships?