Reliance Infocomm is planning to use its retail interface initiative, Reliance [Get Quote] WebWorld, to use the Reliance WebWorld platform to provide guidance for exams such as SAT, GRE, TOEFL and GMAT.

Reliance will also offer certificates to master's degree level courses -- the duration will range from two to 14 months -- in affiliation with educational institutes. However, the company has no plans to offer training for competitive exams for B-schools such as CAT, MAT and CET.

The company announced its tie-ups with management schools like the Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubhaneshwar, and the Xavier Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur.

It intends to position the Reliance WebWorlds as e-learning centres in the near future.

According to a study, 98 per cent of the students fail to get an admission in their selected institute, said company sources. Reliance will train them through virtual classroom facilities at the 240 WebWorld stores in 110 Indian towns.

Reliance Infocomm's future tie-ups with a number of premier institutes and educational bodies is expected to be a major breakthrough in distance learning in India.

"Reliance already has firsthand experience of training nearly 2,500 staff members through distance learning with the help of facilities such as video conferencing," said Sarup Chowdhary, CEO, Reliance WebWorld.

At present, Reliance Infocomm has an arrangement with US based CyberLearning to offer 1,500 courses ranging from Personal Career Development to Introduction to Six Sigma, with certifications from IT majors such as Sun, Microsoft and Cisco.

CyberLearning also offers preparatory courses such as SAT, GRE, TOEFL and GMAT in affiliation with Barron's, which will now be available from Reliance WebWorld platform.

Commenting on the courses from Reliance WebWorld platform, Chowdhary said, "We will offer two options -- self-paced courses where a student can complete the package according to his own schedule and courses through virtual classrooms. Students will attend the classes simultaneously in number of centres while the lecture will be delivered from single place."