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Ready or Not - The Role of Online & Blended Learning in HE

11-12 December, London

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Whatever you call it- online, digital, virtual, e-learning- it has been a rough ride. In the 1990's, champions imagined a near-future of dramatically better access to higher education, a wealth of online learning resources and plummeting costs. All over the world, students would be able to enrol at the best universities, and all but the top institutions would perish. Reality proved a bit more complicated.

Twenty years on, bricks-and-mortar universities are very much alive, and most international students still travel, but it is undeniable that online learning is growing in popularity. Internet access has surged, bandwidth exploded and smartphones are ubiquitous. MOOCs, adaptive learning and AI-based student advising are the latest examples of online education. A growing number of traditional universities are partnering with the private sector to launch online degrees.

Is online higher education about to realise its promise?

The OBHE's 2017 Global Forum will reassess the potential of online and blended learning in higher education, to meet the needs of domestic and international students. Drawing on a unique series of country studies from around the world, this event is an opportunity to engage with the latest data, learn from experience, and consider new models and technologies.

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2 October 2017

Online higher education in South Korea -
The cyber-universities 20 years on

Richard Garrett, Director, OBHE
Rachael Merola, Sr Researcher, OBHE

South Korea took an interest in online learning early on. As part of a wide-ranging Cyber Korea strategy in the 1990s, turning the country into the most wired nation in the world, the government encouraged universities to establish online or so-called cyber-universities. An emphasis on lifelong learning, to help the country cement its rapid economic rise, positioned cyber-universities as a way to reach working adults and experiment with new technology.

Today, Korea enjoys a particular combination of circumstances. Young adults boast the top tertiary education attainment rate in the OECD but live in a country where graduate unemployment is seen as too high. Korea is rapidly ageing. This means a surfeit of universities and worries about return on investment. At the same time, tens of thousands of Koreans still study abroad, and the government is trying to create a regional hub for foreign higher education institutions.

In a country with excess higher education capacity, where does online learning fit in? How have cyber-universities fared over the past twenty years?

Full article available for members.

5 September 2017

Just a Delivery Mode?
Online Higher Education in Mexico

Rachael Merola, Senior Researcher, OBHE

Mexico boasts a large and fast-growing higher education system, with a plethora of public, private and for-profit providers. Government sees online learning as part of the system’s future, and many institutions are now active. This article examines the size, shape and status of online higher education in Mexico. Can online help Mexico enhance quality and access in higher education?

Full article available for members.

5 September 2017

Using online learning to internationalise the curriculum: CETYS University Case Study

Rachael Merola, Senior Researcher, OBHE

Based on an interview with Fernando León García, President of CETYS (Spring 2017)

The Centro de Enseñanza Técnica y Superior, commonly referred to as CETYS University, is an example of a prestigious university taking steps to internationalise curriculum, with online learning as a lever to do so. An interview with Fernando León García, President of CETYS, sheds light on the process and why it is important.

OPEN ACESS.

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