University of California is hoping to become the nation's first top-tier research institution to offer a bachelor's degree over the Internet comparable in quality to its prestigious campus program
Universities are losing their grip on higher learning as the Internet is, inexorably, becoming the dominant infrastructure for knowledge - both as a container and as a global platform for knowledge exchange between people - and as a new generation of students requires a very different model of higher education. The transformation of the university is not just a good idea. It is an imperative, and evidence is mounting that the consequences of further delay may be dire.