OPINION: Future of education in this country lies online

Over the last decade or more the language of management has permeated more and more into higher education. For some this is the trump of doom, as they see the accompanying managerialism as being the death knell of the university. Others, myself included, take this with a grain of salt.

Without getting too managerial we can then think of higher education as an industry. It consists of lots of units; some big, some small, all of whom compete and co-operate with each other as the task at hand requires.

Part of the change I and others see in public attitudes is perhaps associated with the emergence of what are called MOOCs (massive online open courses). These, in essence, are online courses into which pretty much anybody can enrol. The distinguishing feature of the Coursera and EdX programs are that they are populated by high-profile, highly respected, research-led faculty from leading universities.