Education officials will offer English courses at a distance from February (read article in Castilian here, La Vanguardia). Education officials will offer distant learning courses to an initial 2,000 students, but places and languages will be expanded. Starting next year, it will be possible to take the first three levels of English through the Institut Obert de Catalunya (IOC). The courses will be done as distance learning but part of the evaluation will require some one-on-one. Josep Francé, director general of professional teachers, artists and specialists, explained that the "strong demand" for learning English and the saturation of the present schools has led them to provide this opportunity. The first class will only be for about "1000, 2000 students, in the futures this offer will grow." The places are open to all citizens of Catalunya. The IOC has registered this year, an increase of 14,000 in comparison to last year with now nearly 20,000 students.