In December 2010, China Education Publishing & Media Group (China Education) was formed as a strategic merger to reshape educational publishing. The company includes five subsidiaries: Higher Education Press (HEP), PEP (Peoples's Education Press), LCP (Language & Culture Press), CEPIEC (China Educational Publication Import & Export Corporation) and China Educational Instrument & Equipment Corp. Combined, those groups account for revenues of 2.8 billion RMB. According to Li Pengyi, General manager of the new group, it plans to capitalize on the rapid development and growing international dimension of Chinese educational publishing, improve the group’s stock listing, and develop digital strategies.

With an annual output of 40,000 publications including books, audio, and digital reaching 2,000 primary and secondary schools across the country, China Education claims to be the market leader in China’s publishing industry.

China Education includes the China Teaching Equipment Corporation, a state-owned company specializing in research equipment, and the Educational Publications Import & Export Corporation, which imports and exports newspapers, books, journals, audio and video products.

Key Company Developments 2013

Financial:

Current financial figures (for 2013 and 2012) have been audited in preparation for a planned IPO.

With help from favorable government policies toward educational publishing, China Education continued on its expansion course. Total sales in 2013 were 9.979 billion RMB, up 11% from 2012, and profits were 1.178 billion RMB. Still, the IPO has yet to take place.

Financial figures for the years 2012 and 2010 are re-stated in the 2014 report, after more accurate information became available.

Ownership, Mergers & Acquisition, Internal Organization

China Education was formed with the goal of establishing a Chinese global player in the educational publishing market.

International

International cooperation partners of China Education include Pearson, Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill Education, Wiley, Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, Langenscheidt, Wolters Kluwer, and Springer.

Higher Education Press announced a cooperation agreement with the Dutch journal publisher Brill.

China Education began a business relationship with Nhan Tri Viet of Vietnam.

In 2011, the Thai Ministry of Education extended their cooperation agreement.

In 2010, HEP sold 179 titles to publishers in Europe and the Americas, making it the leader in China in copyright exports.

Bestselling Authors & Titles

China Education’s bestsellers include the Standard Chinese series and the Learn Chinese with Me series.

Earlier Developments

Higher Education Press (HEP), the largest publisher of educational books in China, was founded in 1954. The company has a major focus on publishing university textbooks on Science and Engineering.

Over the past two decades, HEP has broaded in scope from college textbooks to all-level books for postgraduate education, vocational education, continuing education, and online education, and covers topics including science, engineering, humanity and the arts, social sciences, education, economics, and management.

Higher Education Press also develops audio-visual, electronic products and on-line teaching materials.

Higher Education Press has published over 30,000 titles, currently around 4,500 annually, including 1,500 new titles with 65 million books produced per year.

HEP’s Academic Journals Division entered a partnership with Springer in 2006 to jointly publish 36 journals, which will be accessible online through SpringerLink as the Chinese Library of Science. Other collaborations have been established with McGraw-Hill Education and Cambridge University Press.

Educational materials from HEP were adopted by the educational system in Thailand.

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