Public statement due on UKeU's future

The future of UKeU, the government's flagship online learning scheme, will be revealed following a meeting of its backers to be held later this month.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) told Computing this week that it will make a public statement after its board meets on 22 April to discuss the potential restructuring of the troubled programme.

The discussions came after UKeU failed to meet its first-year target of 5,600 students (Computing, March 4).

Last week (April 1), we called for a review of the money spent on the scheme after it was revealed that nearly £40m has been spent on the project to attract just 900 students - subsidising distance learning to the tune of £44,000 per student.

A Hefce spokesman told Computing that the level of spending reflects the intention to establish the UK as a leading player in providing virtual learning over the web.

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.

By comparison, the University of London has developed a bespoke learning platform for its colleges, spending just £500,000 over the last 3 years. So far, the system has been rolled out to 2,800 students - an equivalent cost per student of well under £200.

'We use appropriate technologies for a purpose, rather than doing elearning for the sake of it,' said John Dickens, director of learning and development at the University of London.

Labour MP Derek Wyatt says he hopes Hefce's forthcoming statement provides detailed explanations of UKeU's activities.

'I shall be asking Hefce to put into the public domain its full report on UKeU,' he said. 'It was a scandalous waste of tax payers money that UKeU was started without the Open University being a major stakeholder,' Wyatt said.