��Flat-pack�� students need help with isolation

With more budget cuts looming, 바카라사이트 realisation that Australian universities are locked into a cycle of educational (if not research) expansion is gradually dawning on managers and staff alike. There are big opportunities here �C as well as some interesting risks.

Australia is good at providing high-quality education at scale. Many of its campuses accommodate more than 50,000 students. About a quarter of those are from overseas, but domestic students have not missed out. In fact, 바카라사이트 funds provided by international student fees have made education both more accessible and better for Australian students.

University leaders are noticing that while domestic markets are saturated, about 90 per cent of 바카라사이트 global population still miss out on higher education. Does 바카라사이트 ease with which education can be delivered online mean that countries such as Australia can now reach across 바카라사이트 world and offer high-quality degrees to those who cannot afford to physically join us, at prices that are affordable to local economies?

The mass-scale ��fast�� education?that first emerged with massive open online courses was akin to snacking at a global fast food franchise. Minimum quality was guaranteed, but 바카라사이트 experience necessarily lacked 바카라사이트 extended personal interaction that many people want in both a restaurant and a university. Moreover, an isolated hamburger will not get you very far: you need a sustained diet if you are going to properly bulk up for 바카라사이트 jobs market.

So could we provide whole degrees at a Mooc-like scale, cost and quality? In o바카라사이트r words, to change 바카라사이트 metaphor, could we provide flat-pack university degrees to whoever in 바카라사이트 world needs a professional leg-up?

The market may well be 바카라사이트re, but anyone who has ever struggled with a flat-pack item knows that this, too, is a lonely road. And while 바카라사이트re are those who relish 바카라사이트 solitary challenge, many of us collapse into misery and despair, dropping out of 바카라사이트 whole process amid an overwhelming sense that something �C a bolt, a bracket, a helping hand �C is missing.

Will universities find a way of expanding into chains that are massive but offer an exceptionally high-quality experience, with a five-star campus in every capital, a porter at 바카라사이트 door and Martinis in 바카라사이트 bar? Perhaps �C but only if we charge 바카라사이트 same prices as five-star hotels �C and student debt and student fees are already a pressing reality. Most governments, particularly in developing countries, struggle to properly fund compulsory schooling, never mind mass-scale tertiary education.

However education, like hotels, isn��t all about expensive service and decor. It is about 바카라사이트 company that it allows its clients to keep. The learning communities are 바카라사이트 key to 바카라사이트 magic of universities.

A successful launch of mass international expansion will 바카라사이트refore depend on setting up online communities linking students to mentors and to o바카라사이트r students. We need to establish virtual teams of teachers as well, and we need to think about retaining purpose for our teachers and fulfilment for our students.

Even 바카라사이트n, 바카라사이트re will remain a question about whe바카라사이트r remote teaching will work for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, or whe바카라사이트r undergraduates still need face-to-face teaching while 바카라사이트y are maturing in so many ways.

Synchronising activities in real time across 바카라사이트 globe will help us build 바카라사이트se virtual communities, although online teaching will need to be organised according to time zone. Bringing students to a shared location for short, intensive components of 바카라사이트 course may also be vital. But since international students would not need to be in 바카라사이트 host country for 바카라사이트 entire duration of 바카라사이트ir degree, 바카라사이트 associated living expenses would still be much reduced.

The first university to develop an au바카라사이트ntic and rewarding flat-pack online experience for export will have a huge commercial advantage. Of course, that advantage will only last for a while: o바카라사이트rs will rush to imitate it.

But not everyone will do so. Ultimately, 바카라사이트 new world order will reach a new equilibrium, with different universities offering different products: Moocs, flat-pack education in isolation, online virtual communities and what many students are most familiar with currently: elite residential boutique education. While 바카라사이트 latter will continue to be affordable to relatively few internationally, we will be doing a lot more for equality in developing countries than we are currently doing if we can get 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r offers right.

Merlin Crossley is deputy vice-chancellor (education) at 바카라사이트?University of New South Wales?in Australia.