Elearning scheme to undergo review

A government-sponsored online learning scheme is to be reviewed almost a year after a Computing investigation exposed major flaws in the project.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) is to 'hold immediate talks' with UKeU after it failed to meet its first-year target, which we can reveal was 5,600 students.

UKeU was launched in February 2000 by Education Secretary David Blunkett, and the government allocated £62m to the project. The company promised to give students across the world the chance to earn online degrees from UK universities.

But after committing £28m to infrastructure and course development (Computing, 1 May 2003), it has attracted just 900 students.

This means the scheme has so far subsidised distance learning for foreign students to the tune of at least £30,000 each.

The company had also committed £10m a year to develop additional online learning programmes.

Its £2m-plus wage bill for 2002 to 2003 included chief executive John Beaumont's £180,000 salary. He was also paid a performance-related bonus of £44,914.

A Hefce spokesman told Computing that negotiations are at an early stage, and that it cannot comment on the review.

'The targets UKeU was working towards were far too tight,' said Mike Kelly, director of the e-languages consortium at the University of Southampton.

An Open University spokesman said: 'We welcome the Hefce move and remain confident in the UK's potential to be a global leader in elearning.'

International elearning expert and LearningLab director Steve Molyneux added: 'Computing has an excellent reputation for finding flaws in large government-funded IT initiatives.'