The Hindu : Now, an MBA degree via satellite

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 26, 2003

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National

Now, an MBA degree via satellite

By Anand Parthasarathy

BANGALORE JULY 25. The Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) — a deemed University since last month — has joined hands with the satellite-based education delivery service, DirecWay, to offer a one-year MBA in financial services that can be taken across 23 cities in India through interactive sessions.

The programme will cover financial markets; domestic and global saving and investments; consumer finance; credit ratings; mergers and acquisitions; project financing; etc. Ten modules spread over two semesters can be taken through twice-weekly evening classes at 33 satellite-backed classrooms in 23 cities, created by DirecWay, a brand created by Hughes Escorts Communications Ltd (HECL), the Indian end of the U.S.-based satellite provider, Hughes.

Faculty members from MAHE currently use the Bangalore studios of DirecWay to transmit the lessons, which students in any of the countrywide classrooms can attend. These special facilities have a number of computer terminals backed by microphone and headphones, so that students can listen to lectures — and can interact with the faculty, live, by voice or e-mail.

DirecWay has set up other studios in Gurgaon (NCR), Jamshedpur and Kozhikode. The entire system is backed by a network of Very Small Aperture Satellite (VSAT) systems.

Currently, students are required to go to the nearest DirecWay classroom to attend the interactive lecture sessions. But once providers emerge in the recently cleared Direct to Home (DTH) technology arena and once broadband connectivity becomes available widely, students can take lessons from their homes.

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