Online Education Takes Off in India

The business of distance learning on the subcontinent is becoming so big that foreign universities and venture capitalists are taking note

by Nandini Lakshman

Indian schoolchildren use a laptop to browse a new self assessment and diagnostic Internet site tool in Hyderabad. NOAH SEELAM/AFP/Getty Images

It's a Sunday afternoon and class time for 39-year-old IT worker Seema Shetty. Her feet curled under her in a swivel chair, she sits in front of a computer monitor, adjusts a set of headphones, and scribbles in a notebook. Shetty, who works for consulting firm Mastek in Mumbai, is in a virtual classroom in the Vile Parle suburb, where a dozen computers link students to some of India's elite management institutions. Today's class is a three-hour general management lecture, part of the online education course conducted by the Xavier Labor Relations Institute in Jamshedpur, in the remote northern Indian state of Jharkhand.

A consultant for various industries from insurance to banking, Shetty signed up for an online certificate course to "learn more about my clients' business requirements," she says. By enrolling in the 14-month, six-hour-per-weekend online course, at a cost of $4,600, she can further her education without having to take a two-year career break to get an MBA. Learning online, says Shetty hopefully, "will definitely boost my job prospects."

Shetty is part of a growing tribe of working professionals and students in India who have enrolled for online education certification. While it's difficult to determine numbers of students, the online education market in India today generates about $200 million in revenue, and industry experts expect it to touch $1 billion by the end of the decade. The winning proposition: Getting knowledge from top-notch professionals without disrupting fast-track careers.

Slaking a Thirst for Knowledge

Mostly it's courses in engineering, management, finance, human resources, and mass communications available to individuals who feel they need some polish and a deeper understanding of their chosen subjects. Institutions, too, are big users—most are short of staff and overwhelmed by the demand from students who want to be equipped with the best possible education to further their job prospects in India's rapidly expanding economy.

Online education addresses some of India's shortcomings: a dismal education system, limited reach, and a severe paucity of faculty. "Even students from smaller engineering colleges feel they can now access the same courses our top students are exposed to," says Kanan Moudgaliya, head of the distance learning initiative at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Mumbai.

The efforts to boost graduate education have begun right at the top. India is booming, and as new industries such as retail, real estate, and infrastructure grow, the talent crunch grows, too. In 2003, New Delhi made education a priority, boosting spending from 3% of gross domestic product to 5%. Upgrading the quality of higher education was key to its agenda. That's when the IITs and the leading business schools went online with their courses. There's both Web-based education, which puts course material online for students to download, and there's virtual learning—the kind that Shetty is undertaking.

Foreign Universities Heed the Call

The biggest and most popular providers of online education are the IITs, leading business schools like the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), and private schools such as Sikkim Manipal University in northern India. In addition there are private online education services such as Educomp Solutions, Everonn Systems, and TutorVista. Last year, Rubin Das, 29, a midlevel restaurant manager at Mumbai's Grand Hyatt hotel, was one of the 120 students who enrolled for the online general management course for young managers at IIM-Calcutta.