THE FUTURE OF GLOBAL EDUCATION: AN INTERVIEW WITH ALEX ZHELTOV

Alex Zheltov

What if a student in Mongolia could study UK A-levels from home? Or a 14-year-old in Egypt could earn a US diploma without leaving their family? In this insightful interview, we speak to Alex Zheltov, founder of Educate Online and a former Queen Ethelburga’s student, about how his own international education sparked a mission to make world-class learning accessible to everyone.

From the rise of AI in education to building Flylane, a new AI-native edtech platform, he shares the lessons, challenges, and big vision behind one of the fastest-growing global education startups.

By The Takes

TT: What inspired you to launch Educate Online, and how did your own international education shape your vision for the platform?

AZ: I didn’t start out trying to build an education company. I was just trying to solve a problem I had experienced myself, the uneven access to world-class education based on where you’re born.

When I came to Queen Ethelburga’s, I saw how powerful global education could be. It wasn’t just better textbooks or higher scores. It was a mindset. Exposure. The belief that you could do something big with your life. I remember thinking, why should this experience be limited to a few students who can move countries? That’s what led to Educate Online. 

A way to open up international education without needing to relocate. A student in Mongolia should be able to study Cambridge Maths with a UK teacher. A 14-year-old in Egypt should be able to earn a US diploma while living with their family.

Since launching, we’ve helped over 20,000 students in 15+ countries access that kind of opportunity and we’re just getting started. We began as a services company helping students one at a time — but today, we’re building a product-led, AI-native platform called Flylane with a bigger ambition: to become the world’s largest education company by making high-quality, personalized learning radically accessible to the next billion students.

TT: You’re working across 15 countries with thousands of students. What patterns have you noticed about how young people want to learn today, and how should the education industry adapt?

AZ: What I’ve noticed is that young people aren’t waiting for permission. They’re learning from YouTube, starting businesses on Instagram, writing code with ChatGPT. They want control. They want relevance. And they want to move faster than the system is currently designed to let them.

In almost every country, we’re seeing the same thing: students want an education that actually prepares them for real life, not just for university entrance. And they’re aware that the world they’re preparing for is uncertain. Many of them will end up working in jobs that don’t exist yet, using tools that haven’t been invented.

If schools want to stay relevant, they need to move from standardised learning to personalised exploration. From rigid subject tracks to interdisciplinary thinking. I’m excited to start this conversation during my visit back to Queen Ethelburga's Collegiate (QE) - my alma mater.

The future is going to reward people who can adapt, ask better questions, and build things. 

Education should be preparing students for that.

TT: There’s a big conversation happening about how we use AI in education. How is Educate Online using technology to personalise education?

AZ: AI is changing the rules, not just for how we learn, but for how we decide what matters. In education, it gives us the chance to make learning deeply personal. Not just “faster” or “smarter,” but more meaningful.

At Educate Online and now Flylane, we’re using AI to help students figure out what they’re good at, what they care about, and where that could take them. 

It’s part diagnostics, part mentorship. If you tell us where you want to go, we’ll help you map a path. If you don’t know yet, we’ll help you figure that out too. We’re building for a world where information is free but guidance is rare. AI helps us scale that kind of guidance, the kind that normally only a great teacher or mentor could offer. 

Done right, AI won’t replace educators. It’ll help students become more self-aware, more confident, and more prepared for a world that’s being rewritten every year.

TT: Since the pandemic, many schools are still working on the best way to use hybrid and global models of teaching. What advice would you give to traditional schools that want to be part of the future?

AZ: The biggest shift schools need to make isn’t technological. It’s philosophical. We’re no longer preparing students for a single, predictable future. We’re preparing them for a constantly evolving one.

Schools should think of themselves less like curriculum providers and more like launchpads. Students need a strong foundation, yes — but they also need exposure to global perspectives, emerging fields, and the freedom to experiment.

Start small. Let one student take a subject online. Invite a guest speaker from another continent. Let students publish their work beyond the classroom. Hybrid learning isn’t about replacing teachers with screens, it’s about expanding what’s possible.

The schools that thrive in this new era will be the ones that keep their values, but redesign their methods. Schools that still feel like communities but operate like ecosystems.

TT: What’s one mistake you made while building your company that turned out to be your biggest lesson in leadership?

AZ: I underestimated how long it would take to build something enduring.

When we first launched, I thought in months. Then quarters. I thought speed alone would solve everything. But building anything that truly matters takes longer than you want and asks more of you than you expect.

There were moments where we tried to scale too quickly, or move into too many directions at once. It diluted the clarity of what we were actually trying to solve. That taught me something important: in a world moving this fast, the rarest skill is focus. 

The companies that last aren’t the ones that chase every trend, they’re the ones that keep solving the same hard problem with more depth each year.

TT: Any advice to students at your old school, Queen Ethelburga’s, that want to go into Edtech?

AZ: Don’t wait to be ready. The best way to learn about education is to build something for someone younger than you. Start a newsletter. Tutor a sibling. Design a curriculum on Notion. You’ll learn faster by trying.

Alex Zheltov

Also — get obsessed with the student. Not the tech. Not the features. The student. What are they confused about? What are they dreaming of? How can you make something that helps?

Edtech isn’t about coding. It’s about care. 

The best products don’t just teach. They understand. They believe in the learner before the learner believes in themselves.

And if you’re reading this as a student at Queen Ethelburga’s: take it all in. 

You’re in a place that many students around the world dream of. Use that privilege well. 

Build something that opens the door for others.

End of interview

From a student at Queen Ethelburga’s, in York, to the founder of a global edtech platform, Alex Zheltov’s journey is a reminder that world-class education should never be limited by borders, and that the best ideas often begin with a single question: what if?