 E-University
= The 21st Century successor to Open University?
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| The idea of the E-University was to bring the best of British Higher education to students around the world. | Why Did E-University Fail? |
| *After more than a year of debate, and backed by £62 million funding from the UK Government, the Higher Education Funding Council for England and Wales (HEFCE) decided to set up a company, UKeU to market online degrees from any British University. | -It lacked a strategy for success - nobody had done any market research. With the exception of the Open University, there wasn't an HE institution in Britain that knew the first thing about e-learning. |
| *John Beaumont, appointed Chief Executive in March 2002, said, "the whole idea should be 'win win' for UK universities and ourselves - it has to be real partnership." | -It failed to attract sufficient private investment in its first year of operation, |
| *But by 2003 the E-University had only 900 students compared with a target of more than 5000. | -There is less demand for online study than enthusiasts predicted., |
| *In April 2004 the HEFCE announced plans for the E-University to be dismantled. | -There were claims that it was poorly managed and staff also complained of the chief executive's "autocratic" management style. |
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-It failed to recruit enough students, |
| -Universities were unhappy - they complained they were being charged too much to have their courses marketed abroad. | |
| However… Not everyone sees the E-University as a complete flop - Michael Driscoll, vice-chancellor of Middlesex, believes it hasn't been given long enough - "It looks like a spectacular failure, but I don't think it had enough time to settle in. These are very expensive programmes - it's not just putting lecture notes online. It's not overnight and you have to create confidence in what you're doing." |
Student Disclaimer|E Mail Webmaster|Last Updated 17-Jun-2004