Professional Education
Our Professional Education business is focused on testing and certifying adults to become professionals; and on publishing and other learning programmes for professionals in business and technology. Over the past five years, we have increased sales in this division at a compound annual rate of 8% and operating profit from a profit of £2m in 2005 to a profit of £43m in 2009. Over that period, we significantly re-oriented our professional publishing businesses towards digital products and sales channels and built professional testing into a profitable industry leader. We expect these businesses to benefit from rising demand for work-related skills and qualifications in both developed and developing markets; and from close connections with professional content and customers in other parts of Pearson.
Professional Education: Key performance indicators
| £ millions | 2009 | 2008 | Headline growth | CER growth | Underlying growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | 275 | 244 | 13% | (1)% | (1)% |
| Adjusted operating profit | 43 | 36 | 19% | 8% | 8% |
Professional testing and certification Highlights in 2009 include:
In the UK, we extended our contract with the Driving Standards Agency to deliver the UK drivers theory test until 2014. With the Graduate Management Admissions Test and the recent contract extension for the NCLEX nursing examination, our three largest professional testing contracts now run to 2013 or after. More than seven million secure online tests were delivered in more than 4,000 test centres worldwide in 2009, an increase of 9% over 2008.
Registration volumes for the Graduate Management Admissions Council test rose 8% worldwide in 2009, including a 16% increase outside the US.
In the US, Pearson VUE won a number of new contracts with organisations including Oracle, Citrix, Novell, VMWare, and Adobe, the National Registry of Food Safety Professionals and the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies.
Pearson VUE extended its international reach, signing an agreement with the Dubai Road and Transport Authority to deliver a new, high-tech Driver Testing System and launching the Law School Admission Test in India.
Professional publishing Highlights in 2009 include:
Our Professional education business experienced tough trading conditions in the retail market but benefited from the increased breadth of its publishing and range of revenue streams, from online retail through digital subscriptions.
A best-selling product in 2009 was CCNA Network Simulator, which are digital networking labs designed, developed and published by Pearson, to help candidates successfully pass the Cisco CCNA certification exam.
Pearson launched new learning solutions for IT Professionals preparing for certification accreditation. Cert Flash Card applications were launched for students studying for Cisco CCNA, CompTIA and Microsoft certification exams and are accessible through web browsers and iPhone and iPod Touch devices.
FT Press launched a new e-publishing imprint, FT Press Delivers, providing essential insights from some of its leading business authors including Jim Champy, Brian Solis, Mark Zandi, Jon M. Huntsman, John Kao, Michael Abrashoff, and Seth Goldman.
