INDIA DISTANCE EDUCATION MEETS HUGE DEMAND - India is using Distance Education to meet a huge demand for degrees. Indian universities have begun to supplement their correspondence courses in recent years with classes that use radio and television broadcasts. Sixty-three of India's 200 universities now have a distance learning component. Seeing education as the only way to help people break free of generations of discrimination and destitution, schooling is the one way to educate a large part of the population and provide the opportunity to join the middle class. At present in India, only 6.5% of high school go on to higher education, compared to 30 % in developed countries.

The first Open University in Andhra Pradesh, established in 1981 now has more than 130 centers across the state, some related to local colleges. In recent years, acceptance has increased among educators and students. Nine states in India now have Open Universities. As distance educators look to the future, the Internet is the next phase. By next year, fiber will connect each village and every village will have at least one computer. To boost their efforts, the government is trying to bolster private investors One of the latest undertakings is a master's of science in information technology. Critics say that fundraising for distance education is a moneymaking machine and that it encourages the entrance of foreign universities and will, in the long run, only develop "the elite classes." To see a complete article on this topic by Martha Ann Overland: CLICK: http://chronicle.com/world. The Chronicle Web site is at CLICK: http://chronicle.com. (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 14 July 00)

ASIA, ANOTHER MARKET FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION - Asia is home to the world's most rapidly expanding population, and represents the world's largest market for distance education. As a result, the government is looking for methods outside of the traditional systems of education. The Open University in Hong Kong is a lesson in how this might come to pass. Administrators Of the Open University are looking for a similar response as it begins to market to China. Asia is already home to the greatest number of distance learners in the world with surging enrollments at its distance-oriented universities. Thailand and Japan are taking steps, as well, in this direction. Although critics say the Open University has its weaknesses and is not ambitious enough, it has had much success over the past years. For a complete article on this topic by David Cohen CLICK: http://chronicle.com/world. The Chronicle Web site is at CLICK: http://chronicle.com. (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 14 July 00)