A Completely Virtual Distance Education Program Based on the Internet - Case and Agenda of the International MBI Program

The Internet as a medium for communication and information distribution has opened up new opportunities for distance education programs. Not only is the scope of a program, in terms of potential target groups, by default a global one because the Internet is global. Moreover, commonly available multimedia technologies for the World Wide Web provide effective means for bringing courses to students all over the world and to interact with them by electronic means. The newly available Internet technologies are infrastructural components of a distance education program described in this paper. The program leads to the degree of an "International Master of Business Informatics (MBI)". The rationale underlying the program is "virtuality". All courses are Internet based, making use of various online and offline network and multimedia features. Students study at home, in their home countries and they communicate via Internet. The courses are held in a virtual School of Business Informatics. The faculty is a network of professors from many European universities.