UK: Teach online to compete, universities told

Universities should make their course materials freely available online, according to a paper for the latest edition of ppr, the publication of influential think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research. The researcher and activist Leo Pollak argues that UK universities lag behind in providing course materials online but could innovate more than their US competitors, reports the Education Guardian.

The government should establish a central online "hub" where taxpayers could easily access British university course materials, he says. This would help "guard against restrictive framings of syllabus materials" and move "research funding metrics away from narrow citation towards a broader and richer research" and "create space for stifled intellectual innovations", Pollak adds.

Online learners should also be able to pay a fee to take the same exams as enrolled students in order to get an "open degree course" qualification, which would require passing an Open Access Act through parliament to establish, the Education Guardian article continues.
[url]http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/news/story/0,,2279637,00.html style=original]Full report on the Education Guardian site[/url]