Q&A Adrian Mellor, OUP Asia Education m.d. Eastern promises


Oxford University Press’ new education boss in Asia talks to Tom Tivnan about growth opportunities in developing markets, piracy and leveraging the OUP brand


Your remit covers India, Pakistan, Malaysia and China. Can you tell me what you think are the key opportunities in each territory? And what are the challenges? All of the territories covered by Asia Education have growing education sectors. India and China in particular have a rapidly expanding middle class that are heavily focused on educational standards. Pakistan, despite political unrest over the years, has seen a drive to increase access to education more recently, and Malaysia has a well-developed education system that is already moving rapidly towards a digital environment. Tese developments provide a


range of opportunities for publishers, particularly OUP because of our long history in the region; we have been active in India since 1912, for example. By building on this solid base and being open to experimentation and innovation, there is a real chance for us to support the efficacy of education in these countries. One of our challenges is that some


sectors can be cautious about involving international organisations. Our role in Asia, and around the world, is to be entirely focused on the improvements to educational outcomes that great materials provide, and to constantly remind and persuade educators and learners of the value created by what we do.


What sort of size business does OUP have in these territories? And how do you see it growing in the next decade? Asia Education is one of the smaller divisions at OUP by revenue, but we employ 2,000 people across the four branches, and reach millions of


14 THE BOOKSELLER DAILY AT LBF | 16 APRIL 2013


have with Oxford is in a local classroom or library”


customers through their combined output. Tere are opportunities across all segments from pre-school to university level in each of them, and I expect to see rapid increases in dissemination in the coming years. Tis region is also an important


focus for the University of Oxford, of which we are a department. Many of the first encounters that students around the world have with Oxford is in a local classroom or library—and OUP’s continued development provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the Oxford brand in these countries.


Obviously in the West a lot of education content is delivered digitally. Is that the case in these markets? And how do you see digital


Many of the first encounters that students around the world


growing for OUP in your territories? Relative to the technological infrastructure available in developed regions I think it is surprising that more content is not delivered digitally, particularly given the size of the markets. While I will be working in some territories where infrastructure is less well developed, I remain confident that digital will be a key part in helping us deliver some strong solutions in this part of the world.


Just to follow on to that— what is the key to growth digitally in these countries? Is it content, technology or digital infrastructure? Maybe even the OUP brand itself? Digital infrastructure is certainly needed, just as we need warehouses


for print—but teachers, learners and scholars don’t love Oxford because of our warehouses or our digital backbone; they admire it for the high quality of our resources, and the key to our success is well structured and carefully designed content. Te OUP brand, in a holistic sense, is a summary of thousands of individual high- quality conversations between our employees, partners, and educators around the world. It is important that these conversations continue to be on-going—whether they’re about print or digital resources. Tat is what will sustain us.


Piracy has been a concern in some of these markets. Do you think the battle against it is getting better? And what is the best way for going about combating it? Piracy remains a concern for all publishers, and OUP is active in strong intellectual property protection in developing markets, assisting local anti-piracy teams with raids in countries such as Pakistan in recent years. I support a more consistent focus, making governments aware about the negative social and economic impact of large-scale abuse of copyright, whilst signposting students and teachers to affordable ways of accessing our copyrights.


You have a background in other emerging markets, including Latin America— what lessons can you take from there to apply to Asia? We have been on a great journey in Latin America and the Middle East in the last five years and OUP has dramatically increased the numbers of learners, educators, and academics that we reach in those regions. A lot of that success is already happening in Asia but it can be accelerated through increased investment; working with partners, particularly technology firms; and collaborating even more closely with teachers and institutions.


Adrian Mellor was appointed OUP’s Asia Education m.d. in March. He had previously worked at Pearson before joining OUP in 2005 as ELT sales director and was promoted ot m.d. for Latin America and ELT International Development in 2012.


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