With so much already being done online, from transferring money in your bank account to booking a holiday and buying clothing, taking education in the same direction has been a long time coming.
Universities have offered courses with online aspects to them since the advent of e-mail, but improved technology, the changing needs of students, and the ambitions of universities to reach a global network of learners, has seen some institutions beginning to offer entire undergraduate and postgraduate degrees online.
Next month will see the launch of the Open University of Hong Kong's first course taught entirely online and in English, the Master Programme in China Business Law.
'We have designed and launched it purely online,' said Chung Siu-leung, director for the centre of e-learning at the Open University. 'The reason is because the university is trying to diversify its offerings of courses. By offering the course in English we hope to attract learners from overseas as well as local students. And the only way for us to deliver the course internationally is online.'
Dr Chung said the university offered two programmes for the course, one in English and one in Chinese. The Chinese programme was launched last year.
'We chose a programme that is of interest to people in other countries. Recently, China's economy has been growing, so many people from overseas want to do business with China, and one of the areas they need to know about is Chinese business law.'
