The Mortgage Bankers Association of America is the latest real estate institution to enter the realm of online education, creating "CampusMBA.com" this month with the hope that it will become the learning center for real estate finance.

The Internet school joins other real estate education enterprises such as RealtorUniversity.com and others. The mortgage bankers site, however, suggests it is "one of the first broad-scale education platforms to be created by a national trade association."

A spokesman said CampusMBA.com, "will serve as the main lifelong learning resource for the industry - focusing on service, value and versatility - not just for the 3,000 MBA member companies, but for students, teachers, journalists and members of the general public as well."

In addition to specific information on mortgage banking and real-estate finance, the Web site can be used to order other MBA materials, including:

• Print-based correspondence courses
• Web-based courses
• In-residence, classroom based training
• A "Certificate of Achievement" program
• Audio conferences
• Virtual seminars
• Video conferences/Video tapes
• Real estate finance publications

Sumner said courses were tested and each one had to go through a 13-step management process.

"This safeguard ensures consistent and timely instruction for real estate and mortgage-banking professionals," he said.

CampusMBA includes a "virtual seminar" capability by which participants can view instructors' PowerPoint presentations and their background data.

Another service provided by the Web site is the ability for member state and local associations, companies and other interested groups to affiliate with CampusMBA and groups to establish their own project and organizational space on the site.

Organizations can initiate discussion groups; list events on the online calendar feature; view past presentations; order MBA products and learning tools; and conduct real-time web events.

Organizers say the site will go beyond providing financial information. An academic reference section will link visitors to resources covering most academic disciplines including the arts, languages and literature, mathematics, business and management, vocational training, legal technology, and the social sciences.

Said MBA senior director of education J. Parker Deal, "The core value of this new tool is that it creates a Web-based community that will provide for interaction between and among professionals in the mortgage-banking industry who have interests and needs that range far beyond their core business.

"That's why we included a wide-ranging resource component. If you have a client interested in, say, a particular opera, you can use the community site to find that piece of information - easily and without wasting time."

• CampusMBA.com