Following approval by the University of California Board of Regents earlier this month, the School of Theater, Film and Television is poised to create a groundbreaking online school that will provide opportunities for students around the globe to pursue education in film, television and new media.

The new Global Film School - a for-profit venture in partnership with the Australian Film, Television and Radio School and the National Film and Television School of Great Britain - will address wide-ranging issues of media literacy and empowerment for aspiring filmmakers, not only university students, but anyone interested in visual storytelling.

The school will provide online instruction in all aspects of moving-image media for diverse constituencies ranging from K-12 students and university-level film students to media professionals and others pursuing continuing education.

The concept for the online film school emerged in April 1999, during an interactive distance-learning conference held at UCLA by an international consortium of film and television schools. After the three institutions decided to collaborate, announcements of their decision last year brought an overwhelming 90,000 inquiries in response. Among the dignitaries publicly endorsing the concept was Secretary of State of the United Kingdom Christopher Smith.

"The Global Film School is an original and thoughtfully conceived experiment in distance education, and an exciting and promising collaboration," said Chancellor Albert Carnesale.

The school hopes to offer its first online courses within six months and a full curriculum within a year. Certificates, not degrees, will be presented upon completion of coursework.

"Now we can begin the challenging task of putting online an innovative curriculum that realizes the full potential of Web-based interactive learning," said Robert Rosen, dean of the School of Theater, Film and Television. "The Global Film School will fill an important role providing worldwide opportunities for students of moving-image media by offering training and education to anyone at a computer terminal, no matter where they are on the planet."

One of the jobs ahead is to finalize strategic partnerships with the many individuals and corporations who have expressed interest in the venture. The three institutions plan to entice computer hardware, software and other companies to invest a projected start-up budget of $25 million to establish the online film school.

"It is ideal that the University of California will be in a position to be at the forefront of online instruction with no financial risk to the university," said UC Regent Sherry Lansing, chairman and CEO of Motion Picture Group, Para-mount Pictures.

Teaching courses will be current faculty from the three partnering institutions, scholars from sister schools and professionals from the film and TV industry.

Worldwide, the demand for education in filmmaking far exceeds supply. Typically, film schools are besieged by hundreds of hopefuls, vying for a handful of highly coveted spots. For the last five years, 700-plus have applied for the 21 spots in the UCLA directing program.

"One of the things we can bank on is the omnipresence of online education becoming an integral part of the culture in the 21st century and a central part of lifelong education," Rosen said.

There are 300-plus fully accredited U.S. institutions offering degrees through distance learning.