UKeU project to be 'scaled down'

UKeU, the government's flagship online learning scheme, is to be scaled down and its work transferred to established universities.

The board of the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) met last week to discuss plans for the troubled programme.

Hefce says it is to 'continue with the plan of scaling down and transferring activities', and that future funding should support the development of elearning in universities and colleges.

UKeU was set up in February 2000 to give overseas students the chance to earn degrees online, with £62m of government money allocated to Hefce for the project.

But the scheme failed to meet its first-year target of 5,600 students, attracting just 900 students at a cost of £44,000 each. (Computing, March 4).

'Restructuring is a step-by-step process. I expect there will be a further report to our next board meeting on 17 June and, at that point, we will make another progress statement,' said a spokesman.

Two initiatives that were part of UKeU's remit, eChina and the eLearning Research Centre, may be managed by higher education institutions.

And UKeU is to cut the number of staff employed in functions that will no longer be required.

But the future of the scheme's £32.6m elearning infrastructure remains uncertain.

Hefce says it is reviewing the options for the platform, and is in discussion with private and public sector organisations about its future.

'The platform is the final piece in the jigsaw of restructuring. Until we know the final outcome of the decisions about the platform, we can't say what the final outcome of the restructuring will be,' said the Hefce spokesman.

Steve Molyneux, director of the LearningLab and a leading UK elearning expert, says the UKeU project was always flawed.

'Hefce's Board are looking for the easy way out - transfer activities, wind it up and people will forget about it. But it's annoying because Computing said the project was flawed 12 months ago,' he said.

'My fear is that this fiasco could have repercussions for well-thought out elearning projects in the public sector.'