The online education industry has grown leaps and bounds over the past few years, says the world’s premier online graduate business school offering globally recognised graduate programmes.

Universitas 21 Global or U21Global, as it is popularly known, was established in 2001. It is a joint venture between Universitas 21, an international network of 19 leading research-intensive universities in 11 countries, and Thomson Learning, a world leader in tailored learning solutions.
It combines the traditional quality of its founders with innovative modes of delivery on the Internet, providing students with substantial learning advantages, while balancing work, travel and family life.
Three years ago it opened its regional office in Dubai Knowledge Village (KV).
“We were the first to enter the online education market and have today established ourselves as the first choice,” says Vikram Tah, director, recruit-ment, Middle East, Africa and Pakistan. The market has been growing ever since, he says.
The aim behind setting up U21 was to develop the human capital as we saw there was a huge competency gap in the market, says Tah. “Our programmes typically target the lower- and mid-management-level executives.”
 “By providing a holistic learning environ-ment, where learning is acquired through opportunities for reflection and active construction of knowledge, our students are connected to a global learning community and equipped with relevant knowledge that is meaningful and focused.”
This way, students will be able to retain knowledge longer and, more importantly, apply this knowledge to real-life situations, he says.  “U21Global’s professors adopt the role of ‘guide on the side,’ acting as facilitator, mentor or advisor rather than teacher, lecturer or instructor,” adds Tah.
U21 Global recently launched a new Master of Management in International Business (MMIB) programme to meet the aspirations of young professionals.
Designed to prepare executives for management and leadership roles in a global economy, the MMIB programme offers a focused and relevant curriculum to equip them to contribute to their organisation and the global economy. Through the MMIB programme, U21Global aims to develop an alumnus of new global leaders ready to take on the demands of the knowledge-based world. Young professionals who have obtained the MMIB can proceed to articulate toward the Master of Business Administration (MBA).
With the global economy growing at a rate of 3 per cent in 2005 as revealed at the UN Conference on Trade and Development, and with Asia contributing to a large percentage of global economic growth, the need for qualified managers with global leadership capabilities in Asia continues to heighten.
The MMIB programme will adopt the same pedagogical approach as taken for the U21Global MBA and MISM programmes, both of which incorporate a problem-based approach within an engaging, faculty-facilitated educational environment that fosters a high degree of collaborative and peer learning.
The flexibility of this online programme allows ambitious new graduates to start building a career immediately while pursuing the Master’s programme. Although many of the applicants are expected to be employed, the MMIB programme is the first post-graduate degree programme at U21Global that targets young graduates with limited or no prior work experie-nce.
Commencing in November 2006, the programme will require candidates to complete 12 subjects, with each subject comprising between 120 and 150 hours of study - equating to approximately 10 to 12 hours per week. The programme is expected to have an average duration of two years and, upon completion, will allow students to articulate with full credit to the MBA programme.
U21Global has students from 55 countries around the world including those from Asia, Australia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. The graduate programmes draw upon the best practices in online learning and pedagogy and have been approved by U21pedagogica, an independent quality assurance body which ensures that the curriculum meets the rigorous academic standards of all 19 affiliated universities. Its affiliated universities include:
North America - McGill University, Tecnológico de Monterrey, University of British Columbia, University of Virginia.
 Europe - Lund University; University College Dublin, University of Birmingham, University of Edinburgh, University of Glasgow, University of Nottingham.
 East Asia - Fudan University, Korea University, National University of Singapore, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Hong Kong.
 Australia & New Zealand : University of Auckland., University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland.