Although distance learning is not a new phenomenon in the country, e-learning was not an instant application of the internet. It came about only after the internet has been in use for almost two decades. Implementing e-learning was not as easy as it was thought to be. The conventional method of teaching was still preferred, even by those working adults who do not have the luxury of time to attend classes. However, it goes without saying that the technology has to be the state of the art, the effectiveness of the delivery system cannot be any less than the conventional teaching method and the flexibility of delivery must not be sacrificed. In short, the students expect the technology to be up to date and the effectiveness must be as good if not better than the conventional method. The approach adopted from the outset was to assume that the system did not work at all. With that assumption, every effort was then made to ensure that everything works. In order to do this, firstly, we had to do continuous testing so that Murphy’s Law can be prevented from occurring. Secondly, the system has to mimic the conventional system as closely as possible. At the same time, we have to be convinced that our assumptions about the preferences of students match very well with the model that we adopted. Thirdly, we also felt the need for additional support system that would enable the students to gain confidence when in trouble or receive the help at any time they need. Based on the above three policies, we started to list the components of e-learning that would match with almost every aspect of the conventional learning. For instance, we know that in the conventional approach, there are lectures, tutorials, laboratory experiments, assignments, quizzes, examinations, etc. For each of these components we must create an e-learning component that will replace the component in the conventional approach. Over and above those considerations, there are two additional conflicting objectives to be taken into account. These are the academic and commercial objectives. Both have to be considered in the right mix. Failure to balance these two objectives will certainly bring about myriad of other problems. The questions to be asked now after UNITAR has been in operation for almost eight years are:

1.How successful is it in meeting the expectations of the students?
2.What is the student profile?
3.What have been the changes that had to be made in order to improve the performance of the university?
4.What are the most important lessons to draw from this experience?
5.How different would I do otherwise?