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BUSINESS
STANDARD
New Delhi
Friday Aug 4 ‘2000
Degree
courses Offered cheaper on the Net
Thomas K
Thomas
New Delhi
Delhi-based e-learning portal, OpenlearningWorld.com, has tied up with 15
educational institutes, including All India Management
Association (AIMA),
Institute of Management Technology (IMT) and National Institute of
Advertising (NIA), to offer
degree courses on the Internet at prices lower by 20 to 50 percent than
off-line distance education.
"For
instance a course in management from AIMA, which costs Rs 8,000, would now
be available for Rs 5,000 as we would be saving on the printing and paper
costs. We would also save on buying content as we can source it from our
own off line publishing venture which has been developing study material
for various long distance programmes," said Ashish Jain chief operating
officer Openleanimg World.com.
OpenlearoingWorld.com is expected to bag projects worth Rs 25 crore
through similar tie ups with 35 other institutes be year end enabling
users to get degrees on-line in the areas of management, advertising,
computers and public relations among others.
“According
to a
ID research, on-line education would be between $35-50 billion by
2005. To tap this market, we are offering a complete solution by taking
care of the entire web development, launching of the course, chat session
and e-mail facilities with faculty from renowned institutes like IIMS,
IIT, FMS-Delhi, said Ashish Jain, adding that coaching for various
entrance tests is also provided at the website.
For
those who do not have access to Internet, the company
would be offering the services at AIMA’s 60 nodal centres and IMT’s
37 study centres spread across the country.
The
portal is also planning tie-ups with other websites, including books
portal first and second.com,
'to
offer click
through facility on their home pages.
This
would enable users to purchase OpenlearningWorld publications
through the Net.
'To tap
the corporates, a subsidised package of short-term courses is also being
developed. We are in talks with organisations, including GE and Thapar
Institute, to offer our courses to middle-level managers." said Jain,
adding that the portal would be going in for-its first round of venture
capital funding for about $2
million in six months time.
As part
of the alliances strategy, OpenlearningWorld.com is tieing up with leading
publishers like McGraw Hill, Prentice Hall to offer a digitalised online
library to students.
The
portal is also targeting leading management consultants to host their
courses and lectures on the web.
The
portal has 8,000 registered users of which 3,500 are exclusively for the
on-line programme.
Jain
said the on-line students are at an advantage not only because of lower
price but also because of the presentation and packaging of information on
the website.
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