Udemy partners with Benesse to significantly expand content in Japan

This morning, Udemy CEO Dennis Yang attended a press conference in Japan to announce some incredibly exciting news. Udemy has partnered with Benesse, the leading education and publishing provider in Japan. This partnership will expand content offerings in the Japanese language and bring numerous new Japanese students and instructors to the Udemy marketplace.

With this partnership, Benesse will share some of their educational content through Udemy, which will be incredibly useful for people around the world who want to learn in Japanese. At least one hundred Japanese-language courses produced by Benesse on a wide range of topics will be available via Udemy by the end of April 2015. Additionally, Benesse will enlist everyday experts in Japan to share their skills and earn additional income by creating their own courses.

Currently more than 60 percent of Udemy’s 6 million students are outside of the US. Japan is a very important market for us as we continue to expand our global footprint. Over the past year, we opened our first European office in Dublin and began rollout of localized pricing, making it easier for students to purchase courses in their local currencies. We’re confident that combining Benesse’s expertise in Japanese education with Udemy’s marketplace platform will continue to fuel rapid growth.

We’re on a mission to help anyone learn anything. As we work towards this goal, we look forward to collaborating with additional strategic partners to bring much-needed access to skills development to students regardless of location or origin.

To learn more about the partnership with Benesse, visit https://www.udemy.com/jp. You can also view the full press release here.