Liberating Higher Education

Sampuran Prakash Trust & Foundation and University18 Higher Education come together to launch the University18 Business School
The Indian e Education scene has seen a lot of action lately, with increased VC activity in startups, and listed companies such as Educomp and Everonn gaining on the bourses, even as the rest of the markets were tanking on recession fears. Latest to join the e Education bandwagon is University18, a for profit Online Education firm, which recently announced a tie up with an Indian Non Profit, the Sampuran Prakash Charitable Trust, to explore opportunities in the Indian Higher Education segment.
The tie up has already fructified with the launch of University18 Business School (www.ubs.edu.in) , a joint effort between University18 and the Sampuran Prakash Trust. UBS is to be an exclusively online education initiative, delivering Distance Learning MBA Programs , in collaboration with the Government managed Karnataka State Open University, Mysore.
This week, University18 announced the admissions open at UBS for the August/September Academic cycle. The school is inviting applications from students for the following Distance Learning MBA Courses - MBA for Professionals (a One Year MBA), the MBA in IT, and the MBA in Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management & Strategy.
While the launch sees only three correspondence MBA Programs being offered in the first year, the pedagogy has evoked a lot of interest amongst distance learners and industry watchers. "Students enrolling for these Distance Learning MBA Program's can attend classes, take part in discussions, seek faculty help, and submit assignments, online, using the University18 Education Platform.", stated a UBS official.
The platform, being web based, would allow the courses to be accessible to those previously disadvantaged when it came to accessing quality distance education, be it because of location, job compulsions, or age. It allows distance learners to attend live classes while at home, and that's quite an advantage when you're an adult learner.
Traditionally Correspondence MBA / Distance Learning MBA Programs are delivered by a network of ‘Study Centers' where students attend classes in evenings or weekends. Such centers employ part time faculty, and standardization of quality becomes quite a challenge. If lucky, a student could get a great teacher. If not, he could be wasting his/her time in class. Another mode of doing a Distance Learning MBA is via a postal course, where study material is posted to the student, and self study is the only method. Some Distance Learning MBA's and Correspondence MBA's also have students attending Personal Contact Programs, conducted once or twice a year, at limited locations. This may prove to be a disadvantage for quite a few of the Distance Learning students, as the studying is limited, and work may come in the way of these classes.
University18's online offering promises to be an answer to all these challenges. But how these Online MBA courses are received by the Indian Student Community, is still to be seen. But till then, it is at least an effort in the right direction.

For more information about Distance Learning MBA please move on www.Ubs.edu.in