The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology's School of Business and Management (HKUST Business School) today
Announced its collaboration with Asia's premier knowledge service provider Edport.com Limited (Edport), a subsidiary of Affirm Score Limited, to launch a series of online Professional Certificate courses in eCommerce (Electronic Commerce).
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The four courses rolled out today include Foundations of eCommerce, eCommerce Economics and Strategy, eCommerce Marketing and Business-to-Business (B2B) eCommerce. Starting from today , IT and business executives in Hong Kong and the region will be able to enroll for these courses through the B2B eLearning portal, Edport.com or the website of the HKUST Business School.
According to Professor Yuk-Shee Chan, Dean of the HKUST Business School, this is the first time that online courses of this nature are available to people in both Hong Kong and the region.
"We are pleased to be able to collaborate with Edport to launch these courses, which allows busy executives to study conveniently and easily," Dean Chan said.
"With the rapid development of eCommerce, there is a keen demand from both business and IT executives in Asia for new knowledge and information in the field. Based on the combined strengths of the HKUST Business School in eCommerce research and teaching and Edport in eLearning technologies, we are able to develop a wide range of high quality web-based eCommerce courses tailored for the needs of these executives," he said.
According to Edport's managing director Steve Yan, the key benefit of these online courses is that they allow participants to learn anytime and anywhere at their own pace and needs. The innovative and user-friendly features of these courses are designed with the aim of balancing the needs of busy executives to acquire new knowledge within tight constraint of time.
"The online Professional Certificate courses will be launched in Hong Kong initially, followed by the Greater China region later this year, and then extended to other regions in the world next year to meet the demand for "just-in-time" learning by working professionals and corporations," he said.
Mr. Yan said he was honored to be able to work with such leading research and teaching institution as the HKUST Business School to launch these courses, and help contribute to the new knowledge economy in Asia by speeding up the whole process of knowledge transfer.
The cost for each online eCommerce course launched today is HK$3,800. Participants who successfully complete all four courses will be granted a Professional Certificate in eCommerce (Online) by the HKUST Business School.
(7 September) according to Professor Theodore Clark, Associate Professor of Information and Systems Management at the HKUST Business School and a leading expert in eCommerce , the Professional Certificate courses in E-Commerce developed with Edport's eLearning technology is based on the "Active Learning" philosophy which emphasizes participation and real-time discussion. There is a high level of interaction allowing knowledge sharing between the tutor and students all over the world. Professor Clark and Professor Chris Westland, Head of Information and Systems Management at HKUST co-authored the international best-seller textbook "Global Electronic Commerce: Theory and case Studies". Published by MIT Press in 1999, this book has become one of the most popular textbooks on international e-Commerce. Furthermore, Dr. Theodore Clark also serves currently as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the legendary business school, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Since its launch in mid-June 2000, Edport has signed up an impressive list of clients including major corporations, educational institutions and government departments. Currently Edport also offers over 20 business, management and IT courses targeting the B2C market. Mr. Yan said the number of courses would reach 50 by the end of 2000.