An edtech suppliers’ association has pulled a “crass and opportunistic” seminar encouraging UK companies to “take full advantage” of the post-coronavirus “boom” in online study.

The British Educational Suppliers’ Association (BESA) promoted the “webinar”, organised by service provider Crayfish.io, in an email to its members last night.

However, BESA cancelled the event after its director general, Caroline Wright, saw the promotional email and was “shocked by the crass and cynical approach taken by the company” with regards to the coronavirus outbreak.

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Ms Wright subsequently asked for the email to be recalled and the seminar scrapped.

The promotional email for the event, which was set to take place on Tuesday 28 April, said the coronavirus outbreak presented a “brilliant chance” for UK edtech suppliers to evaluate their China strategy.

“The word ‘crisis’ in Chinese means ‘danger & opportunity’,” it said. 

“The current coronavirus crisis has presented many challenges for businesses globally, however, there are also emerging opportunities for the education industry, particularly for UK edtech providers.

“With the opening of Chinese schools pushed back to March and all extracurricular activities suspended, tens of millions of students have been told to study online.

“This presents a brilliant chance for UK suppliers to evaluate their China strategy and make plans. Is your online education company prepared to take full advantage of the boom? If not, then act NOW! 

“This may sound daunting. Don’t worry, Crayfish.io, a full-service provider for better engagement with China, has created an online panel discussion and get all the tips you need to get started!”

The panel discussion was set to cover the following areas:

• How coronavirus has changed the education sector in China.
• New opportunities and challenges for online education businesses.
• What you can do now to position your business for the Chinese market post-coronavirus crisis.
• Practical tips and tools to help you started.

Asked why BESA had pulled the event, Ms Wright told Tes: “The honest answer to this is that I became aware of a marketing e-promotion that had been prepared and forwarded by my events team from a Chinese agency that had offered to run a free webinar for businesses interested in working with Chinese education partners.

“We had agreed to promote their webinar to our members on that basis. However, when I saw the promotional email yesterday, I was shocked by the crass and cynical approach taken by the company with regards to the impact of the coronavirus in China.

“I asked for the email to be recalled and the seminar cancelled.

“We will not be working with this organisation on either this webinar or offering information regarding their other future business seminars.”

In an email to BESA members sent this afternoon, Ms Wright said: “I’d like to apologise for a promotional email some members may have received yesterday flagging a seminar by an external organisation for BESA companies interested in doing business in China.

“I have pulled this seminar and any future collaborations with this organisation after becoming aware of the crass and opportunistic tone and messaging used by the company to promote the event.

“I would like to reassure members that BESA does not condone or endorse any company attempting to profit from the devastating impact that coronavirus is having anywhere in the world.”

In a statement, Crayfish.io founder and chief executive Ting Zhang, said she was “deeply upset” by the suggestion that her firm was “anything other than a well-intentioned company” and said that BESA had editorial control over the messaging that was sent to their members.

She said: “Based in Cambridge, we are a highly regarded company within the UK business community, and we work incredibly hard to maintain our reputation and help other businesses to grow.” 

“The intention with this webinar was to be forward-thinking and upbeat in the face of this terrible unfolding story. We are trying to do what we have always done which is to help businesses in difficult times and continue to grow. Unfortunately, a message about ‘a crisis and opportunities that come with it’ - while sounding more measured in Chinese - may have been lost in translation and totally misunderstood.”

“However, although this webinar was a joint effort between Crayfish.io and BESA, it was the BESA team who had full editorial control over the messaging, and they edited our draft copy to what they deemed appropriate before circulating it to their members,” she added.

Ms Zhang also refuted the claim that they would profit from the event as Crayfish had offered the event as a “free of charge” seminar and had “not asked for anything in return.” 

She added that her company has been “providing support to those affected by coronavirus from the offset, raising funds with the Chinese community here in Cambridge,” and that it was one of the “first companies to do something proactive to help the rapidly escalating situation - offering free English-Chinese machine translations from our state-of-the-art translator to all medical and life science companies working to halt the spread of the disease for the duration of the pandemic.”

“We have now contacted BESA’s Executive Council and commenced the formal complaints procedure,” she concluded.