By Marinel E. Peroy
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Outclass, the newly rebranded education technology (edtech) AirAsia Academy, is expanding to the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia.
At the July 4 launch here, its Executive Director Aireen Omar said the personalized services of Outclass can address talent gaps in the aforementioned countries as they guide job seekers in Southeast Asia to find demand-based jobs.
She noted that Outclass can reach people in rural areas as it was built for low bandwidth usage.
“I think the Philippines can benefit in many ways. They can use the learning experience platform for scalability,” said Omar, who is also the president of AirAsia Digital.
As a personalized interactive learning platform, Outclass sets performance-driven goals, provides a peer engagement hub with dashboards, and issues certificates of completion.
Gobind Singh Deo, Minister of Digital Malaysia, commended the holistic and career development approach in edtech of Outclass.
“The Ministry of Digital Malaysia is honored to witness the launch of Outclass today, a pivotal step in advancing digital reskilling and upskilling in Malaysia,” Minister Deo said.
Minister Deo reiterated the importance of skill-building and how embracing the emerging digital world shouldn’t remain as an individual’s discernment. He also highlighted that with Malaysia’s goal to become the next powerhouse in tech, a country-collective participation must take advantage of its full potential.
“This initiative is a testament to our unwavering commitment to equipping the nation’s talent with the digital competencies to thrive in a rapidly evolving landscape,” Deo added.
Tailored interactive learning
Currently, Outclass offers 15 career paths in tech, with plans to expand into high-demand areas like sustainability and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) through a partnership with the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC).
“[Filipinos] can use [Outclass] in schools where they can upload video content on topics or subjects. Corporates can use it for their own talent management, even [in] the organizations and so forth. It’s a platform that compliments what you’re doing in terms of where you are – with all the real-time data,” Omar said.
The launch officially opened Outclass to the B2B (business to business) and B2B2C (business to business to consumer) markets. Aside from schools, individuals and businesses can use it to address recruitment needs, unlock workforce potential, and deal with the evolving digital market.
INSPIRE, an Outclass original series featuring stories from 24 iconic figures from Malaysia, has also been unveiled.
Asked about the reason behind the rebranding, Omar explained that despite the strong branding with AirAsia, they wanted “a fresh, new way of doing things.” She said the independent name Outclass describes their approach to education.
Outclass, the ed-tech venture of Capital A, is a “cool, cohesive, and comprehensive” learning experience platform for all its users, the AirAsia executive said.
Since its establishment in 2020, the former AirAsia Academy has taught around 9,000 students.
Now expanding toward a greener pasture, Outclass is planting the seeds with cutting-edge options for the digital economy into courses beyond tech toward what ASEAN countries need.
Outclass also offers a personalized quiz. Discover what career path suits you by taking up quiz here. You may also try their 7-day free trial today.