In a unique cross-continent partnership, the film school at UCLA will partner with top schools in Australia and Great Britain to offer film, television and new media classes over the Internet.

The new Global Film School, Inc., will be a for-profit partnership between the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television; the Australian Film, Television and Radio School; and the National Film and Television School of Great Britain. The program is designed to create courses for online, interactive and global education in all areas of moving-image production.

"There are projections that suggest that within a few years about 80 percent of the higher education institutions will be offering online instruction," said Robert Rosen, dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. "This is going to be a part of the education for the 21st century, and we want to have the ability to do that well."

The program will offer four programs: a two- to three-year certificate program with a sequence of online courses focusing on making movies with digital technology; media literacy courses for elementary and secondary students; professional training courses on integrating audio and video into business; and general-interest cultural enrichment courses on the history and making of films.

In a workforce increasingly dependent on technological proficiency, women's relative lack of computing confidence is likely to place them at a disadvantage when it comes to the jobs they are willing to seek out," said Linda Sax, UCLA education professor and director of the survey.

More survey details are available from UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute Web site or by contacting the institute at (310) 825-1925; heri@ucla.edu.