The Western College Consortium – a group of colleges of further and higher education in the West of England – has bought a permanent licence for up to 250 learners for four courses that will be delivered, and regularly updated, online.

The courses, which cover time management, meetings, appraisal and performance review and equal opportunities, have been produced by Learning4Business (formerly known as Quick Guides) and have been supplied by the courseware/hardware consultancy Bridge Multimedia.

Andy Stevenson, the senior partner at Bridge Multimedia, explained: "These online learning materials will be used by the six colleges in the Consortium as part of a project, funded by the European Social Fund, aimed at small businesses and unemployed individuals. The project aims to exploit developments in information and communications technology (ICT) to benefit students of each of these colleges wherever they may choose to learn: on site, remotely and on employers’ premises.

"The advantage that these online-delivered courses have over other training materials is that, because the content is held centrally and delivered via the Internet, it will be updated regularly," Stevenson added. "Thus, learners can always be sure that they are studying the most up-to-date information available on these subjects. This is particularly important where legislation-led topics, such as equal opportunities, are concerned."