Education IT spending in the APEJ (Asia-Pacific, excluding Japan) area will increase from US$9.8 billion in 2015 to US$11.8 billion by 2020, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.86% for the period, according to IDC.

"Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and mobility solutions through the growth of big data and analytics (BDA) technologies will likely boost personalization in education eservices. Also, innovative deployments of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies are expected to increase overall campus strategic operational effectiveness," said Shreyashi Pal, market analyst for IDC Government and Education Insights Asia Pacific.

"Central education organizations will leverage the cloud to further all-of-organization agendas in cost savings and operational efficiencies through increased cloud-related IT consolidation and shared services initiatives," added Jaideep Thyagarajan, senior market analyst, IDC Australia.

According to IDC, in the APEJ education sector, China remains the biggest absolute spender followed by Australia, India, Korea. Indonesia has the highest CAGR at 8%, followed by PRC (7%), Thailand (5%), the Philippines (4%) and South Korea (4 %).

Hardware spending remains a critical IT investment component (e.g. IT infrastructure projects) for the education sector in Australia, India, South Korea and China. Desktop and portable PCs are the major areas of hardware spending in the education sector.

Software is the next spending focus domain, followed by IT applications. The leading drivers of IT investments in education are related to bringing about better operational outcomes through cost reduction and IT consolidation initiatives.