The end of University as we know it?

by Andrew Turner

I’ve spent 4 of the past 5 years in higher education and I’m a real advocate, so you can imagine how dismayed I was to read in The Guardian that universities are “Full” and will “turn away record number of students”.  This shortage of places is before clearing has even opened and means that many people will be disappointed and miss out on the University experience. 

However Bill Gates may have the answer. Unsurprisingly it is in technology that the Microsoft mogul see’s the saviour of higher education, but despite his bias the option does seem viable.  By moving more material online and offering it through e-learning more students can access course material and Universities can become more flexible.   He’s billing it as a way of reducing university bills – a big issue in the US also, but it could also increase the number of university places. For Bill Gates, “College, except for the parties, needs to be less place-based”. This may be true but we’re really going to need to work on the parties’ angle.

Comments

[Suzanne Kavanagh]

It's not just Gates that thinks this. The tightening of public purse strings will provide a strong (forced?) impetus for higher education to look at lower cost delivery mechanisms. Distance blended learning packages - long the preserve of the Open University - may become standard for HE.