Electronics major Sony is looking at the burgeoning distance learning market in India with its broadcast products such as cameras, monitors and VTRs.
The company which has tie-ups with universities and management institutions will look for a greater role in the process of distance learning in any of its three stages - access, content and management.
"We are in the access domain with our broadcast and professional products offering and can also be of help with the enhancement of content quality in terms of our audio-visual technology products," said Yoshitaka Shibasaki, senior general manager - broadcast and professional products division, Sony India, said on the sidelines of a seminar titled "Connect, Converge, Communicate," organised by Science and Technology Park, Pune.
Shibasaki said Sony's non-consumer products division, which markets a range of video-conferencing and surveillance products, has been working closely with reputed educational institutions as well as universities in India.
"We have set up studios for the Jamia Millia Islamia University as well as Indira Gandhi National Open University for their distance learning programmes and we have installed equipment at the Welingkar Institute in Mumbai," Shibasaki said.
About 54 per cent of the country's population is below 24 years of age and these youngsters must be armed to face the challenges in academics and career in a short time. Also there is the urban rural divide that has to be removed and Sony will play its role in this process, he added.
Shibasaki said Sony's Hong Kong office will offer major support to the corporation's Indian operations and the Japanese headquarters will also back the efforts.
Though Shibasaki could not put a number as regards the size of the broadcast equipment market, Sony sources put the current levels of overall turnover in this space at $55 million a year.
With a great demand on education across layers and levels, distanced learning is the only way to leapfrog the process of mass education, sources said, pointing out that management and higher education institutions have already embraced this technology to support their programmes.
