The program is a broader version of the 'Interactive Learning Program' conducted by College Of Engineering Pune (COEP) and IIT-B. " We have been conducting this program since last one year. Distance learning programs that use CDs, books cannot be a substitute for guru. There are so many queries that students have when they are learning. This program though distance learning, is an interactive one and it gives the students an opportunity to get clear understanding of the topic from experts", says Prof Anil Sahasrabudhe, Director, COEP.

"There are a number of advantages of this step. Scarcity of faculty due to lucrative jobs can be fulfilled using this technology. After being associated with IIT for a year we could also compare their teaching standards with ours and I am pleased to say that we are at power with IIT", adds Prof A A Sawant, HOD, computers.

An additional advantage of this program includes an increased attendance for the lectures, as Kohli, who is also the chairman of the board of governors at COEP says, " Engineering colleges will have to work on 'pre-requisites' before exposing their students to IIT-B lectures. Basic pre-requisites, attendance when the course is on and follow-up are three essentials that colleges will have to keep in mind if they want to start offering the IIT courses."

For IIT-B, director Ashok Misra pointed out that the initiative would go a long way in furthering the cause of education. IIT will start transmitting lectures from 8.30 am to 8 pm. Head of IIT's centre for distance engineering education program Kannan Moudgalya said, "Almost 100 engineering colleges have already purchased ISRO receivers to access the live IIT-B lectures. To begin with, IIT-B will broadcast lectures in 13 courses, including software engineering, information systems, computation fluid dynamics, embedded systems, instrumentation and process control and fibre optics communication"