Online courses: the future of university education?

Recent developments in education have created an increased possibility of online courses overtaking traditional ones.

The University of Edinburgh has been the first university in the UK to offer full online courses, of which there will be six starting from January.

Over 100,000 students have already signed up; four times as many undergraduates than are currently attending the university.

Warwick has already started moving into online forums, possibly pushing the University in the same direction as Edinburgh.

Warwick has also recently established a partnership with Queen Mary, University of London, as both universities are counted amongst the leading research-focused universities in the UK.

The two universities have created eight new online research fellows in fields including discrete mathematics, mental health, molecular materials and renaissance networks.

Many believe that this is the first move towards Warwick and Queen Mary creating their own models for online courses.

An example of a popular new course website is Coursera, based in the US, which has 33 partner universities and over 1.8 million students. It offers education in anything from life sciences, to humanities, the arts, and even law and medicine.

To those who are uncertain about paying the higher university fees of £9,000 per year in the UK, these kinds of courses are becoming more appealing.

This year, university applications were down eight percent, and initial university attendance was even lower, down 15 percent.

“It actually sounds like a really good option, considering the current economic climate,” said Kate Balzan, first-year History student, “You don’t have to worry about having to take out a loan. Also it would be great for older people who are very busy but want to get back into education, as they can easily fit the course into their schedule.”

Although there seem to be many advantages, there are still issues that need to be resolved, for example, a degree cannot be gained from online courses. Additionally, as this education is free and open to anyone, the worth of the qualification could be questioned.

English student Siobhan Brennan said: “I don’t think online courses are a good idea, as having online contact with a tutor just isn’t the same as having face-to-face tuition. And you won’t gain the entire university experience, for example, getting to know other students.”