Athabasca University the Canadian Partner in New Global “e-education” Service
For Immediate Release — October 12, 2000
Hong Kong is today the site for the official worldwide launch of a new concept in university “e-education” that
allows students around the globe to link up to the Internet,
take courses, and complete degrees from 10 leading
universities in North America, Europe, and Australia without
ever setting foot on campus.
Athabasca University, the largest distance education
university in Canada with 25,000 students, is a founding
partner in the Global University Alliance (GUA), a
consortium of universities working with NextEd, a Hong
Kong-based on-line education specialist with offices in
Australia, London, Washington, and Beijing, and a fully
integrated and scaleable global server. Together, the
partners offer students traditional academic rigour in a
broad range of accredited programs with the convenience,
speed, and affordability of Internet-based course materials
and instruction.
Close on the heels of the September 29 announcement of
Athabasca’s leadership role in the new Canadian Virtual
University (a consortium of chartered Canadian universities
delivering university courses over the Internet), its
membership in GUA demonstrates the University’s growing
international reputation and ability to provide a university
education to an increasingly global market.
Athabasca University president Dr. Dominique Abrioux, in
Hong Kong with chancellors and academics from other GUA
universities to launch GUA, says, “Athabasca University,
while continuing to serve the needs of its students in
Alberta and Canada, is positioning itself for the global
e-learning environment which is just around the corner.
“Registering full cost-recovery fee-paying international
students will also serve to enrich the learning
opportunities for our domestic students since they will
access a more global curriculum and be obliged to interact
and work on-line with their international counterparts,” he
adds. “While the days of foreign students visiting North
American campuses may not be numbered, the on-line option
will provide less well-off international students with many
of the benefits of studying abroad with actually spending a
year or more away from home.”
GUA chairman and chancellor of Britain’s University of Derby
Sir Christopher Ball says, “We are pioneering the concept of
‘e-education’ — a way of delivering high-quality accredited
education designed to appeal to individuals motivated to
improve their career prospects and to employers keen to
upgrade skill levels. The GUA’s vision statement is ‘Power
of knowledge at your fingertips,’ which sums up the enormous
opportunities that ‘e-education’ can offer.
“In Asia alone, the education market amenable to online
delivery is estimated to be as much as US$5 billion per
annum,” he says.
The founding GUA members are all government-backed
universities with full accreditation power to grant degrees
and other recognized post-secondary credentials: Athabasca
University, George Washington University, Rochester
Institute of Technology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,
Auckland University of Technology (New Zealand), University
of Derby (UK), University of Glamorgan, International
Business School (Hogeschool Brabant, Netherlands), Royal
Melbourne Institute of Technology, and University of South
Australia.
As an alliance, the GUA intends to create
cross-accreditation arrangements where students can access
customized qualifications by enrolling in courses offered by
multiple universities — all delivered through the
Internet. Program offerings currently include health,
business and management, computing and information systems,
education, engineering, and the humanities.
Enrollment started in September 2000 with students in
Australia, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Hong Kong,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the US.
Between now and March, the GUA will offer 99 courses in 24
programs from eight institutions. More will be added as
member universities roll out new courses and programs, and
new universities join the GUA.
“Interest in international alliances has been growing for
several years,” says Abrioux. “GUA is the first major
alliance to be up and running smoothly, with the
participation of leading post-secondary institutions around
the world. Through the GUA, Athabasca University is
actively positioning itself for international growth,
particularly in China.”
The GUA can be found at http://www.gua.com.
Contact Info
Pam Patten, Public Affairs
(780) 428-2068
pamp@athabascau.ca
