Global University Alliance to Offer Courses
by TAA Staff
ON-LINE EDUCATION HAS shifted into high gear as the Global
University Alliance, a consortium of 11 universities, announced
plans to offer on-line courses of its own, in addition to
those its member universities offer. The consortium includes
Oregon State University, George Washington University, The
Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Wisconsin
at Milwaukee in the U.S.; Athabasca University in Canada;
Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand; International
Business School (Hogeschool Brabout) in The Netherlands; The
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and The University
of South Australia in Australia; and The University of Derby
and The University of Glamorgan in Great Britain.
The alliance offers on-line programs at the B.A. and M.A.
levels. Students may take courses in agriculture, forestry,
veterinary science, business management, information technology,
education, engineering, surveying, health sciences, nursing,
humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, tourism, sports,
leisure and visual and performing arts.
Tuition is $500 per credit hour or $4,000 for a full year
of courses. Consortium management hopes to begin producing
and offering its own on-line courses this June, though staffing
them with instructors remains an issue, according to Sir Christopher
Ball, chairman of the alliance and chancellor of The University
of Derby. He says that member universities will likely recruit
part-time and perhaps full-time faculty from their pool of
instructors. As enrollment grows, member universities may
recruit new adjuncts to offer courses.
“Everything ultimately is contingent upon enrollment,” Sir
Christopher says. He estimates that member universities could
hire 80 to 100 additional faculty over the next few years.
He says that he cannot specify compensation for instructors,
for each university is free to pay faculty as it sees fit.
“I’m confident that member universities will pay competitively,”
he says. “High-quality faculty cannot be recruited and retained
unless they are properly compensated.”
The demand for faculty may be great if the alliance attracts
students in Asia, which Sir Christopher sees as a growth market.
To woo Asian students, the consortium is recruiting “associate”
institutions in Asia to offer courses. Current associates
are Mahidol University’s College of Management in Thailand,
and Sedaya College and Kolej Bandar Utama in Malaysia.
Sir Christopher hopes to entice several more Asian universities
to become associate institutions and believes they may come
from Japan, South Korea, India and China. He added that the
alliance’s desire to attract students in Asia makes sense,
given that the market may grow to more than a billion students
by 2020.
The alliance also hopes to make inroads in Africa and South
America, continents where the consortium has yet to recruit
a single university. Lower literacy rates in these continents
have made the alliance cautious about expanding there. Nevertheless,
Sir Christopher foresees the consortium recruiting universities
in countries like Egypt and Brazil, nations with a stable
government and economy.
“Our potential for growth is enormous,” he says. To grow,
the alliance must invest in technology, or, according to Sir
Christopher, a “clicks-and-mortar concept.”
Traditional universities may continue to exist for traditional
students, but those who want to be on the crest of the wave
are migrating to the on-line classroom, he says. “We are building
the world’s largest on-line classroom,” he adds. “Our reach
is truly global.”
