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I think Gates is right, and this is something which I've also ranted about in the past. The cost of university education has been increasing, there are an incr
by motters 16y ago
I think Gates is right, and this is something which I've also ranted about in the past. The cost of university education has been increasing, there are an increasing number of people wanting university education and that level of education is increasingly expected in the workforce. There is also a significant fraction of the population who cannot afford university education (don't have wealthy parents) or do not want to take out gigantic loans which may take them decades to repay. University education is no longer a ticket to a high paying job, and that has been the case for quite some time, so large education loans can't necessarily be justified on a financial basis. Also this year many applicants have been turned away by universities due to budget cuts which means that they have fewer places, and that trend could go on for a few more years at least.
The solution isn't new. The Open University has been around for a long time, and something like OU, augmented with all the media content that the internet can deliver, would seem to be the logical way to deliver higher education at lower cost.
- Ardit20 16y agoAnd lower quality. I do not see anyone replacing an Oxford place with OU or any university place with OU. I think, though I might be very much wrong, it caters to niches, rather than the core of university market which is 18 to 21 year old. The difficulty with OU is that it is not too easy to motivate yourself. In uni you know you are there to study - kind of - with OU or any other virtual replacement its a bit like a project which easily can drift because really nothing has changed with your life. You'll just get a bunch of stuff in the post and some online logging. Also, there seems to be many generalisations on your comment and almost wishful thinking. Sort of saying, things are bad, so this replacement is the alternative so lets do it, rather than judging the replacement on its merits.
- motters 16y agoThe core university market seems to be voting with its feet. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-10903088 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-10903088
- Ardit20 16y agoYeh, that might be because there have been record numbers of applications to university this year and some 100,000 students are not going to get a place at any university so many probably rightly thought getting a distance degree while working might be a good alternative. But we would need much more than an increase in percentage to make any judgement. What are they studying, how many get to graduate by age group, how many enrol by each age group...