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French take online into the schools. An announcement from MIDIST (Mission Interministerielle de l'Information Scientifique et Technique) in France gave a concrete example of the often debated answer to the problem of educating tomorrow's users. MIDIST proposed to the directors of 150 Grandes Ecoles' (tertiary education establishments training engineers or ‘technocrats’) a programme comprising the 5‐month loan of online retrieval equipment (terminal, screen and printer), a financial grant for payment for online access fees and free online training for instructors. From 70 establishments that applied (‘why were not the other 80 interested?’), 37 were selected for the programme that will start in February 1981 with a first group of 13 establishments. The remainder will follow in March, June and September 1981. After the operation, a decision will be taken in the light of results obtained whether to mount a more widespread programme in institutions offering higher training in 1982. The online training in each instance will be carried out by one of the teaching staff at each institution and will be integrated into the course programme.