Universities’ move to online goes permanent

Australian universities are outsourcing their online teaching to private companies to reduce costs and reach greater numbers of students, as temporary changes made in response to the pandemic become permanent, writes Anna Patty for The Sydney Morning Herald.

Education technology companies are expected to double their AU$36 billion (US$28 billion) global online market within five years as public universities increasingly form commercial partnerships with them to help deliver online courses. Higher education consultant Claire Field said public-private partnerships had emerged between a range of Australian universities and online education specialists including Open Learning, Open Universities, Trilogy Education and Online Education Services.

Western Sydney University National Tertiary Education Union President David Burchell said tenured academics were increasingly expected to record podcasts of their lectures which were distributed online to students around the world. “Right now there is a version of the unit that I’m about to teach being taught at a college by other people who are not employed by the university, formally speaking, and my podcast lectures might be being viewed by someone in Shanghai,” he said. “The fear would be that... teaching staff end up being content producers and casual staff become content deliverers. That is the direction things are heading in.”
Full report on The Sydney Morning Herald site