Harvard Business School (HBS) and Stanford's Graduate School of

Business have announced that they will jointly offer business management courses online, a decision they say will create the "world's premier source of online management education."

Entering the intensely competitive market for e-learning, the schools will develop a system to develop and distribute non-degree courses for business executives.

The announcement follows a period in which Harvard has been hesitant to join other schools in the provision of online education programs.

In the meantime, commercial organizations and other universities--such as Columbia and NYU--have developed their own web-based programs for training professionals. Harvard and Stanford's entrance into the market, the schools say, will not only meet a growing demand for on-line learning, but will also encourage the development of better programs.

"The worldwide need for management skills has never been greater, and the demand for innovative approaches to management education is high," said Robert Joss, dean of Stanford's Business School in a press release. "We believe partnership with Harvard Business School offers good prospects for developing new models in both educational content and delivery."

Both schools will leverage their current offerings to provide research articles, case studies and other programs for the venture.

Although the partnership with Stanford is a new development for Harvard, HBS Director of Communnications Loretto Crane says e-learning has been used extensively at HBS for several years, especially through the school's publishing division.