User Scale and Utilization Ratio of Online/Mobile Education Dec. 2015 – Dec. 2016 10,000persons 16000 13764 30% 12000 11014 18.8% 16.0% 9798 20% 8000 14.1% 8.6% 5303 10% 4000 0 0% 2015.12 2016.12 Number of online education users Number of mobile education users Usage rate of online education (by all Internet users) Usage rate of mobile education (by all mobile Internet users) Source： Statistical Survey on Internet Development in China 2016.12 Figure 66 User Scale and Utilization Ratio of Online/Mobile Education Dec. 2015 – Dec. 2016 Key segmented fields of China’s online education developed to various extents. First, the online education market of primary and middle schools saw fast growth in 2016. In all these categories, the primary and middle school education (also called K12 education) had the highest utilization ratio of 53.4%, up by 15.7 percentage points from the end of 2015. It had 73.45 million users, with an annual growth rate of 76.9%. Improved Internet facilities in primary and middle schools underpin high-definition live courses and other online teaching means, and young teachers familiar with the Internet are specialized in promoting online education products. The online education market of primary and middle schools focuses on offline training, and is supplemented with online test library, homework and course review. The online-offline integration can achieve better training effects. Parents, as decision-makers of training courses, have strong willingness and affordability to pay for quality education services. Second, online 21 professional education is in huge demands in China. It has 47.31 million users, with a utilization ratio of 34.4%. As China’s economy is being transformed, the structural imbalance of talents is increasingly severe, and the number and structure of high-level technical talents cannot meet market demands, the online professional education is still a blue ocean to be developed. In addition, the proportions of netizens participating in online language training and online 21 In the 37th survey conducted in December 2015, in terms of professional education, the proportions of netizens attending professional exam and vocational & skill trainings are investigated respectively. But the questions are different from those in this survey, so the data cannot be compared. 8181 The 39th Statistical Report on Internet Development in China