The dissemination of education is going high tech in India. We have e-class rooms which have been started by various online educational companies. Their process of education is driven by latest technology. It is a laudable effort to provide personalized coaching by the talented teachers in every school subject. Even national level management institutions are trying to impart education online using more effective methods for the benefit of those who cannot afford to pay the high fees in such institutions.

Taking the idea further, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and Core Projects and Technology (CORE) have joined hands to set up high technology visualization centers to provide higher education. The project will use Space Age Technology and a system called Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE). The technology has been developed by the Center of Higher Learning (CHL), USA. CHL has been sponsored by America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

CORE and IGNOU have signed up two Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL&FS) in this direction. The entire project would involve a capital expenditure to the tune of US$750 million. The objective is to set up as many as 1,000 centers of learning throughout the country. The technology developed by CAVE has brought about a radical transformation in teaching methodologies through a dramatically different approach in imparting education.

The technology developed by CAVE through a long and intensive research is called Immersive Visualization Technology. It enables the educators to allow the users or the students to be fully immersed in an interactive 3D virtual environment. It has been proved by the research that those students retain information at a much higher rate when working in more tangible interactive 3D environments than when information is presented in textbooks or other flat, 2D representations.

Commenting on the MoU signed with CORE, Rajsekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU, said, "Deployment of this technology in classrooms will greatly enhance the ability of students to understand complicated topics. It will also enable them to conduct innovative experiments leading to cutting edge Research and Development efforts. The inherent talent and potential in our students will be exploited by the use of such advanced technology" Sanjeev Mansotra, Chairman and Managing Director of CORE, said: "This business will add about USD 200 million per year to our top line and net accretion to post tax profits will be about USD 30 million per year in India alone. We also plan to set up similar centers in the Asia Pacific region and in some parts of the USA." Under the MoU with CORE and IL&FS will provide the physical infrastructure for housing and locating the Immersive Visualization Technology.