This is the first step towards corporatisation of higher education, says Pune University vice-chancellor Ashok Kolaskar. This should provide a cue to other corporate bodies to take up the responsibility of providing higher education.

The two courses - one leading to Diploma in Internet Application (DIA) and the other to Advanced Diploma in Convergence Application (ADCA) - will be offered through offline and online means from over 300 training centres of Zed Career Academy, a part of ZILS. The courses will cost between Rs 35,000 and Rs 50,000. Pune University will get 12.5 per cent of the revenue in the first year and 15 per cent from the second year onwards.

The university and ZILS have prepared the curriculum for the courses jointly. Highlighting the prospects of higher education as a business proposition, Dr Gautam Sen of Pune University said the annual turnover of higher education in the country is in the range of Rs 80,000 crore, which is twice the defence turnover.

ZILS COO Dilip Mahapatra said at least 10,000 students are expected to enroll for these courses this year. ZILS, which had 25,000 students enrolled last year, is expecting to enroll 50,000 students this year for all the courses offered through Zed Career Academy. ZILS had a turnover of Rs 60 crore this year against last years Rs 31. Mahapatra said the company is hoping to break even next year with a turnover of Rs 100 crore.