The Hispanic Educational Telecommunications System (HETS) is the first bilingual consortium dedicated to serving the higher education needs of the fast-growing Hispanic communities. Starting in 1993 as a group of institutions interested in sharing courses at a distance, the HETS Consortium has evolved from the use of telecommunications into the asynchronous modes of anywhere-anytime learning, to the use of technology to reach greater collaboration among and within educational institutions. Its inception was encouraged and directed by a group of seven American and Puerto Rican universities and professional technical colleges that joined together to form this non-profit organization. The original seven founding members included the Ana G. Mendez University System, Lehman College, Hostos Community College, University of New Mexico, University of Puerto Rico, University of Texas-Brownsville, and University of Texas-Pan Am.