Delivery of journal content via the Internet has led to new markets opening up across the world. These include libraries operating together as consortia, and institutions in the developing world becoming able to access journals for the first time. Cambridge is active in all these markets and works with many organisations to bring journals to research institutions across the globe.
Foundation e-Learning is a fully owned company of Cambridge University Press India and our core products are Cambridge-Hitachi curriculum software and StarBoard-Hitachi’s Interactive whiteboards. These products come from Cambridge University Press and Hitachi Software which speak for themselves
as far the content and technology is concerned .We have six offices all over
India with resident representatives in three major cities which gives us a wider reach. On the issues in ICT Education, high quality content, interactive learning, long distance education and training are the support that our products can extend. Because information overload and paucity of quality teachers/ trainers are some of major concerns in the e- Education sector today. Our USP(s) are the brand equity of Cambridge University Press and Hitachi Software, our after sales service and training to end users. All -Learning products need constant training and support and our customers
have placed repetitive orders on us despite the competition offering lower rates. What then drives the e-Learning market in India? In my opinion, the major driving factors are, infrastructure improvement, lowering of entry costs, technology awareness and adaptation, and globalisation of education.And the major road blocks in the pathof growing e-Learning market in the country are the mindset within the teaching community, high import duties, different curriculum across the country and in fact, all the factors mentioned above – infrastructure improvement, lowering of entry costs, and technology awareness and adaptation. There is lot to be achieved in these areas, articularly in the semi-urban and rural areas. Manish has a different view while reading and evaluating the market potentials and the company’s chances of penetrating into it. He says, the overall market is in the transition state now with lot of awareness and training is required. Institutions have implemented technological solutions but the usage is not befitting the investment. The
potential is huge but the changing the mindset of decision makers is one of the most difficult tasks. We are more ‘selective’ in ‘choosing’ our clients as we always strive to give them our best services and support. We stand out in the market for this reason only. What has been the most crucial learning experience for Manish in this sector? As an individual, I have learnt that selling a product to a school teacher is not the easiest of the jobs! There is an enormous potential in this sector and every day is a new learning day for me. But e-Learning will be a norm in India after five years. We plan to be a market leader in a niche area of providing digital classroom solutions to schools. We have some of the best contents in the world and wish to disseminate this content on a very user friendly media (web and mobile) with a simple and interactive retrieval search engine at very affordable prices.
The basic fact that is driving and will drive the e-Learning market is the positive economics of the e-Learning solutions. The Indian IT industry is a 40 billion dollar industry and e-Learning is the only way to address this growing IT population. As they say “e-Learning is not the next big thing; it is the now big thing”, says Navyug Mohnot, the CEO of QAI.
The Better Education through Reformed Management and Universal Teacher Upgrading Project (BERMUTU), at a broader level, supports the Government’s December 2005 Teacher Law which aims to improve the qualifications and classroom performance of Indonesia’s 2.7 million teachers, who make up at least 70 per cent of the country’s civil service. The programme is expected to address critical challenges in Indonesia’s education system, reflected most sharply in recent studies which show Indonesian students score less in scholastic tests like maths and reading. The programme will support reforms for university-based teacher education, build capacity of the national accreditation board, provide incentives to universities to train teachers through distance learning and scholarship programs. Teacher absenteeism is another reason students do not learn.
The latest research published by Government Insights – an IDC company – expects that governments and government organisations within the Asia/Pacific region, excluding Japan (APEJ), will continue to spend steadily on IT services and products with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.9% from 2007-2011. This IT growth is largely driven by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and India, which together account for more than half of the total. 
While INR 55 crore will be invested by the company via equity in its subsidiaries, Educomp Infrastructure and Educomp School Management Company, the rest of the investment will be arranged through debt. The company had earlier announced setting up 100 schools in the country in the next three years. The company is so far engaged in providing digital infrastructure and content to schools, apart from offering professional development and online tutorial services.
McGraw-Hill Higher Education’s EZ Test Online programme can create and deliver multiple-choice or true/false quiz questions using iQuiz for iPod. EZ Test Online combines high quality content with the ability to prepare and deliver tests to students in a variety of ways. To set up and deliver a quiz to students via iPod, instructors simply press the iQuiz button in EZ Test Online to export a quiz ready for use with iQuiz. Once students download the quiz into their iPod, they can use the interactive iQuiz to practice and learn the content specific for their course. Students can quickly self-assess and receive their quiz scores instantly. EZ Test Online is accessible to busy instructors virtually anywhere via the Web, and the programme eliminates the need for them to install test software.
The Classmate PC is designed to provide affordable, collaborative learning environments for students and equip them with technology. The company has selected two government schools in Islamabad and one each in Lahore and Karachi. The Classmate PC has two versions. The first one is only 7-inch long with a price of USD 230-240. It will be limited to the school segment only and will not be sold in the market. The other version is a 9-inch PC priced at USD 375-400 and meant to be sold in the markets.
The UNESCO honours are awarded yearly to recognise particularly effective efforts made in the fight against illiteracy, one of UNESCO’s priorities, and raise awareness of the work of thousands worldwide promoting the cause of literacy for all. The theme for this 2007’s Prize was “Literacy and Health,” especially literacy pertaining to general health care, nutrition, family and reproductive health and health-related community development. A literacy centre – the Community Education Administration Centre – in Longsheng Ethnic Minority Autonomous County in a remote, rural and mountainous region of China with a high illiteracy rate among women, received the UNES CO International Reading Association Literacy Prize.
