WITS University students are using video conferencing technology to collaborate with Danish students to broaden the experience of students in both countries.

The experimental e-learning project was initiated by Prof Jochen Lorentzen of the Copenhagen Business School, who is on sabbatical in SA. The project is letting students in the Wits School of Economic and Business Sciences participate in a course on International Firms in Emerging Markets that Lorentzen has run in Copenhagen for four years.

Nine Wits students and 15 Danish students are taking part in 32 hours of video conferencing seminars, and have been divided into cross-country teams to work together on specific projects relevant to emerging markets.

Zenobia Ismail, a lecturer at the School of Economic and Business Sciences, said the experiment was being used to test the viability of international e-learning collaboration.

If it was successful, the two centres might introduce e-learning into other courses, especially if one institution had more experience in particular subjects.

It would also help to ensure domestic standards were on a par with international institutions such as CBS, the largest business school in Europe.

Significant barriers to e-learning in SA were bandwidth problems, said Ismail. Denmark broadcasts its video conferences using voice-over internet protocol (VoIP) technology, which could not connect to the integrated services digital network (ISDN) system used in SA.

That technical hitch put the project in jeopardy when a gateway to merge the two via a service provider in London failed. A link could only be created when Kathea Communications Solutions, a distributor of VoIP technology in sub-Saharan Africa, managed to bridge the systems. Kathea also reduced the cost of its equipment from R42000 to R25000, so Wits could afford to operate the project.

The system is still expensive, with the cost of the international calls estimated to reach R35500.

The greatest benefit for educational institutes in SA may be the ability to offer students access to top academics anywhere in the world, said Ismail, but to make it viable SA would need more bandwidth at a lower cost.