Universities oblige to develop students’ academic achievement and to prepare for the industrial revolution 4.0. This study aims at determining the effect of online learning on students’ academic achievement towards collaborative learning. There were 351 selected respondents of 13 (thirteen) private higher education institutions, known as STMIK, in Indonesia as the samples chosen in the proportionate stratified random sampling method. The data were collected using the media of google form and were analyzed in the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) model, then were processed in the Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS). The results of this study indicate a positive despite a less significant impact on students’ academic achievement. Meanwhile, the online learning mediated in the collaborative learning scheme positively and significantly contributed to the remarkable achievement of students’ academic achievement. Therefore, it is necessary for universities these days to manage teaching methods to develop student’s interest in the environment of collaborative learning. The findings of this study are expected to support universities in improving their online teaching process by involving students actively to engage in the activities