Mr. Wadhera on his classroom and online initiative www.tcyonline.com

Mr. Wadhera, TCY has come of age. How do you see its growth since its inception in 1998?

Well, in retrospect, I see my life almost analogous with the organization. When you look back, you always think you could have done much better in few areas, but have exceeded your own expectations in others. Therefore, in the nutshell, I would say we started with a classroom of 20 students in Punjab, and this year in India, we have around 7000 in classrooms and 24,000online. On top of that, we have around 750 to 1000 students for e tutoring from North America. Therefore, if I see all these numbers, they seem heartening. In hindsight, I would say a few decisions could have been better… it’s okay.

Why did you choose an industrial town like Ludhiana for your education enterprise?

When Rajesh (younger brother) and I started this enterprise, everybody frankly told us that we are not very scientific enough in understanding the connection of macro with the micro environment. Secondly, when we discussed our enterprise with some of our relatives and friends in Ludhiana that happens to our hometown they sounded very skeptical and told us this was not the right place to start an (education) enterprise. They asked us how we would attract talent to a place like this. One thing we were very clear from the day one –– what are the pieces required to start an enterprise? Do you really have to look for these in Bombays or Calcuttas or Delhis …If we could start from here and later find some other place geographically we can always go there. We are very comfortable today. Some of our team members can be planted anywhere in the world. They can run the project. That is not an issue.The team has been evolving that way.

What you have to say on the changing trends in the Indian and the global education sector?

First, these terms like the ‘Indian education’ or ‘global education’ would be extinct soon. There should be just one term, and that is ‘good education’. Somebody sitting in Lahore can be capable of developing a best content in GRE Reading Comprehension. On the other hand, somebody in Costa Rica can be a great teacher of ninth and tenth maths. In addition, there could be somebody in the Bay Area in the US who can provide us a best virtual classroom... I do not think there would be any such thing like Indian education, UK education or US education in the near future.

What do you think, what ails higher education in India?

When a student passes out of a college or a university, he has to enter a workplace. Unfortunately, education in India today is not relevant to the workplaces. Unlike in the West, our education system is not working in tune with the industry –– most of our university programs are not backed by industry nor are customer-friendly… Therefore, unless that happens over here, I do not think things will improve over here.

We have heard a lot about your online tutoring. Recently, you have even launched free online testing. Could you elaborate?

Everything is boundary-less today. We do not care who is present where. Any student in the world can be your student. To reach out to millions of students we always needed a vehicle to drive. Therefore, the Internet was the obvious choice a few years back. Our R & D and content is very strong, reasonably strong, I would say. That is because we have laid lot of emphasis on content right from day one. With that strength, we tried to ride the Internet vehicle. You would be surprised to know that within the last two months we have 24,000 enrolments on our portal (www.tcyonline.com)and from all over and are getting very good reviews from all segments of students. I think we have a clear path in front of us.

TCY is a multi-crore venture today. How do you see the role of your franchisees in your success story?

One of the major drivers of growth today is the franchise network, and it has a major role to play. As we are expanding, a strong franchisee network makes lot to sense for us… tying up with a franchisee is like a marriage, you have to see your compatibility. It’s a very sensitive area. Before you actually tie up with anybody you have to see so many things because your franchisee is representing you in that city, in all aspects all aspects –– classroom delivery, courseware etc. But we are very lucky so far because our network has been very supportive and respectful of the systems. At the same time, wherever we feel the need to put our foot down, we never stay away from that. … At the same time we have to respect his/her (franchisee) space and freedom and must understand them because he is is basically an entrepreneur. He/she should be always motivated…rather than making hundred rupees from ten franchisees we would prefer making ten rupees each from 100 franchisees. So, with that philosophy we are going forward.

How successful you have been in your international online tutoring venture?

Before we entered the US market, we already had a tutoring experience of around 200,000 hours. When we started exploring the US market (North American market) about two years back, we discovered that a lot of research had to be done. The system is different there (US). Almost all 50 States have different standards…So, it was very important for us to first understand the States’ standards over there. It took us quite a while. We worked quite a lot in the first 12 to 18 months on that…we worked in collaboration with some other players …Very recently we have launched one-on-one live tutoring. It has been doing very fine since then…In this line the testimonials of our satisfied customers/students are helping us a lot. Ever since we began we have trained close to 1500 students so far, with 25000 to 30,000 hours of tutoring time we have already done…We have a subscription model for the US kids and it is doing pretty well and fast too.

What’s the response you got from the white kids, besides the kids from Indian origin?

As you know, in the US they have all sorts of immigrants…all colors. When we started it was just a connection to make. So, it was easier for the tutor, the parent and the kid. After that bridge has been made now it’s open to all. Today, now more than 75 per cent kids are from non-Indian origin.

How has been the response from the kids abroad?

Excellent, I would say. One thing we have learnt through all these months is the parent and the kid in the US are not looking for subject experts – we already have expertise on that – they want the tutors to be very caring, patient and who can engage and keep motivated the kid during the entire session… That is helping us a lot. ..Our repeat customer base is very high. For example, if we have taught in Grade V he is also there with us in Grade VI. His friends are also joining us.

Now, what after the whiteboard technology? What are your future plans?

Talking of whiteboard, it’s just one of the tools to deliver, to give service to your customers (students). Similarly, online testing is giving your tests online. A customer sitting anywhere, anytime of the day or night has an access to our website (www.tcyonline.com). He or she can do the test, compare and benchmark…We see conversion. Since education, entertainment, and the services we use (the white board technology) we make the delivery very user-friendly. We always imagine that the next phase of education will be through the mobile. Just imagine you are in college, school or commuting with your friends, anywhere within the college or outside, we have a one single device at our disposal (with all the features) that helps us test our knowledge. It could be any time of the day or just… so those kinds of things we see happening in future.

For the full interview,please click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x92u7Ypp2ag

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About Top Careers & You (www.tcyonline.com)

Since its modest beginning in 1998, Top Careers & You (TCY) has come a long way. It is relentlessly striving for educational excellence in India and abroad, through various modes of delivery: classroom teaching, online testing, and online tutoring.

The company serves almost all the sections of student community; from K-12 to students preparing for MBA, GMAT, GRE, SAT, TOEFL, LAW etc. TCY is present at 27 locations, and is tying up with more like-minded individuals and businesses, to further extend its footprint across the country.

The company has been an academic partner to TATA and AIRTEL for providing online tests in MBA, GRE and SAT.