HP’s Digital Vision for Global Education

Mayank Dhingra, Senior Education Business Leader at HP Inc., speaks with TECHx Media about HP’s commitment to digital equity and innovation in education. With a goal to empower 150 million people globally by 2030, HP is focused on bridging the digital divide through strategic partnerships, advanced technologies, and initiatives to upskill educators and students. HP is shaping the future of learning, ensuring the next generation is prepared for the challenges of the digital economy.

HP has been active in education technology for years. How has HP’s approach to education evolved recently, especially with the rapid digital transformation in learning?

Mayank: HP is accelerating digital equity and transformation in education. We have a multi-faceted approach to education: ensuring equitable access to quality education, providing digital solutions to make teaching and learning effortless, developing skills for the future, and equipping teachers for digital education.
The rapid rise of Generative AI and automation is changing our global economy while curricula continue to educate for a 20th-century economy. In fact, the world is on course to miss the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 to achieve universal quality education by 2030.
This is why HP, in partnership with the Global Learning Council and T4 Education, convened more than 100 education and policymaking experts to develop a set of practical recommendations to close learning gaps. This partnership – called HP Futures – focuses on five key areas: tomorrow’s schools, EdReform, knowledge economy skills, ending learning poverty, and edtech for teachers. Together with these thought leaders, HP will be generating new, impactful insights every year to contribute to addressing global learning challenges and improve access to good education.

Could you share HP’s vision for supporting education systems worldwide? What key areas does HP prioritize in its educational solutions?

Mayank: HP believes education is a fundamental human right and foundational to sustainable development. Technology can be a great equalizer by making quality digital learning accessible almost anywhere in an evolving digital world. HP has set an ambitious goal to accelerate digital equity for 150 million people globally by 2030.

There are three key areas HP prioritizes in our education solutions:

1. Enhancing teaching & learning experiences in blended, hybrid environments
   HP offers a comprehensive range of secure, durable devices designed for learning and creation, digital tools that enable seamless experiential learning, and services to personalize and optimize learning and teaching.
2. Equipping the younger generation with skills essential in the digital economy
   HP programs and initiatives focus on imparting emerging tech and soft skills, mentorship, and coaching to prepare the younger generation for the future of work. HP LIFE, a free online training platform, has been offering digital economy skills courses, such as business, IT, leadership, and entrepreneurship, in eight languages since 2016. Another key initiative is HP Gaming Garage, a self-paced, free-of-cost professional certificate program with over 80 modules on eSports management and game development in 12 languages. This prepares learners for careers in the gaming, media, and ICT industries.
3. Empowering educators to bring out the fullest potential in students
   HP is partnering with renowned education institutions and education thought leaders to look at practical ways to equip teachers, use edtech to drive change, and inspire new thinking in digital education in the Middle East & Africa. Our key programs include:
   • HP IDEA, which fosters digital skills and an innovation mindset for educators. Almost 970,000 teachers and students have benefited.
   • HP Cambridge EdTech Fellowship, which advances educators’ policy formulation skills and edtech understanding to improve their education systems. More than 3.67 million administrators, teachers, and students have been positively impacted.

How is HP addressing the challenges of digital equity, especially in regions where access to devices and connectivity remains a hurdle?

Mayank: HP focuses on impactful programs, strategic investments, and partnerships that prioritize those most likely to experience the digital divide, such as women and girls, historically disconnected and marginalized groups, and educators.
Digital equity requires people to have access to: hardware, connectivity, quality, relevant content, and digital literacy. HP’s commitment to creating positive, lasting change for communities around the world extends to how we design and deploy products, solutions, and services.

Our programs and initiatives have delivered outcome-based learning experiences and accelerated digital equity for more than 45 million people worldwide since 2021, against our goal of 150 million by 2030.

Below are some examples of HP’s digital equity initiatives:
• HP LIFE, a free online training platform providing digital economy skills in eight languages, has 1.2 million new users enrolled globally since 2016.
• Partnered with Girl Rising to equip over 14.4 million students and teachers in Nigeria, India, and the US with inclusive curriculum and innovative tech solutions since 2019.
• Partnered with Women at Risk International Foundation (WARIF) to introduce girls to STEM. Several thousand girls have benefited from the program.

Can you share insights into any innovative technologies HP is developing for the education sector?

Mayank: HP has a comprehensive portfolio of education solutions and programs addressing the needs of all the constituents of the education ecosystem – students, educators, and policymakers. These range from digital tools that enable seamless experiential learning and real-time classroom management and monitoring, initiatives to impart knowledge economy skills to prepare the younger generation for entering the workforce, as well as partnerships to guide educators in driving transformative change in education with technology.
These education programs build on the strength of HP’s innovation to deliver cutting-edge computing and digital printing solutions and outcome-based learning experiences that support hybrid learning and help people thrive in a rapidly evolving digital world.
A hyperlocal approach is also a cornerstone of our education innovation. We collaborate with regional education providers to localize our solutions so that we can address specific education needs. Additionally, we have signed partnerships with key education ministries around the world where we align on strategic goals to advance the upskilling and reskilling of teachers and students.

What are the biggest challenges HP faces in the education market, and how are you working to overcome them?

Mayank: Adoption of technology in the classroom is fragmented, educators have not been equipped with the necessary digital skills, and school leaders are struggling to make sense of the latest tech developments and their meaningful intersection with pedagogy. The need to deal with these challenges has become more urgent than ever with the accelerated adoption of Generative AI.
This is why HP has gathered a core group of the world’s top thought leaders in education under the HP Futures initiative. After six months of discussions, this pioneering initiative has published the inaugural white paper to tackle the global challenges and shape a better future for the education landscape. Here are the key recommendations:

1. Redesign education systems to create schools and curricula fit for tomorrow, including: having a genuinely effective approach to AI; implementing a hybrid schooling system with a mix of asynchronous and synchronous learning formats; centering social and emotional learning skills in curricula.
2. Deliver early years interventions to help young people in less advantaged communities build Knowledge Economy / AI-proof skills from an early age.
3. Deliver on existing commitments to a baseline in education, including offering universal Pre-K and ensuring girls’ transition to secondary education.
4. Develop national assessment and data collection systems, because this is the most cost-effective investment in education today.
5. Subsidize EdTech tools that help pupils attain foundational literacy and numeracy, including ensuring access to language-learning apps for all pupils.
6. Invest in wide-ranging teacher upskilling initiatives, including those combating low digital fluency among teachers, allowing educators to adapt to an EdTech and AI-empowered teaching era.

Sustainability is a major focus for HP. How does this align with your education initiatives, especially regarding eco-friendly devices for students and schools?

Mayank: HP was founded as a purpose-driven brand, and sustainable impact has long been at the heart of how we do business. We will deliver the future of work, in a responsible way – we will continue to empower communities with the digital skills they need to access their future of work, and we will continue to innovate in sustainable products and solutions our planet deserves.
HP designs sustainability into every part of the product lifecycle. Our products include innovations to increase the use of recycled and renewable materials, improve product energy efficiency, enhance product repairability, reusability, longevity, and recyclability. We are driving progress toward a circular economy, keeping materials in use longer, transforming them for a second life, and preventing them from becoming waste.
With the world’s most sustainable PC portfolio, our PCs are constructed from at least 50% recycled materials, and we ensure our PCs meet or exceed Energy Star standards.

If you could give one piece of advice to education leaders considering tech adoption, what would it be?

Mayank: Education leaders should not approach and implement technology tactically but should start with setting a strategic vision in line with its organizational goals. With that vision in place, they can go about co-creating solutions tailored to their institution’s unique requirements and learning environment with experts skilled in developing edtech infrastructures.