In Hong Kong, for instance, over five hundred non-local courses are offered. Many of them involve elements of distance learning to varying degrees. The globalization of distance learning allows institutions to reach new audience and widens consumers' choice. Nowadays, when we walk into a supermarket, we can pick fresh oranges from California, mangoes from the Philippines and dairy products from Europe. By the same token, it is conceivable that keen learners will be able to hook up to the Net and search the best buy they can get from around the world.
Educational service is an emerging area of e-commerce.
To the institutions, it is both a challenge and an opportunity, challenge because of keener competition and opportunity because of a much bigger market. To the learners, there are more choices and better programmes. So the future has never been brighter for the distance education institutions. But at the end of the day, it is quality and quality alone that determines which distance education programmes or institutions are welcome by the learners who will vote by their money or their feet. I am sure you can all work together to upgrade the quality of the programmes.