B Ekbal, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kerala said, "We are probably the only university in the country to offer online courses. The idea is to exploit the opportunities provided by information technology."

Web Technologies is the first course to be announced by the University in collaboration with an outside agency. The effort is also part of the University's move to go in for tie-ups with external agencies to overcome the impending cut in Government's budgetary allocations to the university.

Bachelor's degree in any discipline from a university can apply for the online course in Web Technologies.

Admissions will be provided to persons residing in India or Indian nationals abroad. Students should have access to an Internet enabled multi-media PC facility at office, home or Internet cafes.

Study materials, except lectures, will be available on-line. Lectures will be provided on CDs. Students will be issued identity cards and passwords to access on-line resources and they will be required to keep the ID and password confidential. The tuition fee for the course will come to around Rs 75,000.

Other major projects in the pipeline include an M Phil course in bioinformatics in collaboration with the TBGRI(Tropical Botanical Garden and Research Institute) and a course in cognitive sciences in association with the Sree Chitra Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum.

"Institutes like Centre for Earth Science Studies and ANERT(Agency for Non-Conventional Energy and Rural Technology, Trivandrum), have also approached us for starting integrated courses. These courses would be inter-disciplinary in nature and aimed at an integrated study of life sciences, physical sciences, social sciences and humanities." he added.

The Institute of Distance Education, which is one of the major sources of income for the University, is also planning to create virtual class rooms and video conferencing facilities to attract more students in the coming days.