An alliance of nine universities in Britain, Canada, the United States and Australia has been formed to deliver postgraduate courses over the internet to the rapidly expanding 51¹ú²úÊÓƵn market.

Unlike the Universitas 21 network of 18 universities, which plans to provide specially designed units online or via satellite, the Global 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Alliance will offer existing courses developed by its member institutions.

A Hong Kong-based internet company, NextEd, is a partner in the alliance and will deliver the courses over the internet.

The GUA is being established as a Hong Kong-based company, with each university becoming a shareholder. Up to 15 universities will eventually be partners in the business.

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The founding member universities are Glamorgan and Derby in the United Kingdom, Australia's 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of South Australia and RMIT, Auckland 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Technology in New Zealand, Holland's Hogeschool Brabant International Business School, the Taiwan Chung Yuan Christian 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, America's Rochester Institute of Technology and the Canadian Athabasca 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ.

GUA founding chairman and Derby chancellor, Sir Christopher Ball, said: "We believe that all the members bring with them a depth of experience and expertise that will allow us to meet the educational needs of the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵn and the larger global education market."

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David Beanland, vice-chancellor of RMIT 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ, said that the GUA universities were not principally driven by the need to make a profit.

"While we don't want to run at a loss, the ethos is really about how we can educate more people using the new technology in new ways to improve the effectiveness of education," he said.

Students will pay A$4,000 (Pounds 1,600) for the equivalent of one year of a full-time postgraduate course. The alliance will be formally launched in October. Most courses begin at the start of 2001.