Edutech Informatics India, a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Informatics, has launched what it calls `the first virtual learning initiate' in the country. The project, Informatics I, will facilitate online learning and certification to Indian students in information technology (IT) and non-IT programmes.

The honours course is for one year and has a fee of Rs 1,25,000. The three-phased programme is in the second stage of application with August 31 being the deadline. Those who miss, can apply online in December this year.The students can register at www.informatics.co.in but will have to go to the nearby Informatics centre to pay the fees.

The eligibility criteria has been relaxed and those with an advanced diploma incomputer sciences from Informatics or a three-year honours can apply for the degree. Students of three-year GNIIT programme of NIIT or three-year ADSE programme of Aptech are also qualified. Any other course that is equivalent to the B-level course of the department of electronics is also eligible.

However, Informatics is planning to launch online testing and entry in less than a couple of months to those students who have none of these qualifications but are still interested in the university degree.

Comparing online education with actual camping and tuition at the University campus at Portsmouth, a company official said that on an average a student would spend nothing less than Rs 10 lakh in the latter case. Since the company's courses have been approved by more than 40 universities across the US, UK and Australia, the students can soon have courses from all these universities.

Informatics begun offering the course in Singapore in March this year. This particular course has been running at thePortsmouth University for the last 30 years, according to a company. The company is looking at introducing five more courses online shortly.

In India, Informatics is also planning to enter the field of business management training and corporate training in information technology.