I. Discuss these questions.

1Some online courses offer 'blended learning', where there is a mixture of face-to-face tuition and e-learning. Which style of learning do you prefer?

2 Would you consider doing an online MBA? Why (not)?

3 What do you think are the advantages of doing an MBA online?

II. Read the article and make a note of the advantages associated with Universitas 21 Global.

Time to break out from campus

By Sumathi Bala

1 For associate professor Jere­my Williams, who has been teaching in tertiary insti­tutes for more than two decades, making the crossover from a classroom to an e-learning environ­ment was not a difficult choice. It was something 4 that just happened one day, like a wake-up call, when I realised the way I was teach­ing the MBA courses was not authentic,' he says. 'Here I was waxing lyrical in a class­room on what happens in a business environment, but it doesn't really translate to what actually takes place in the marketplace.'

2 Mr Williams, who was an associate professor and MBA director at the Brisbane Graduate School of Busi- ⁵ ness, accepted a post at Uni­versitas 21 Global, the global online graduate business school. He became the insti­tute's Director of Instruction and Assessment and associ­ate professor of e-learning. 'To me, it was an opportuni­ty to be at the start of some­thing that would be big,' he says. 'E-learning is engaging, authentic and could be the way of learning in the future.'

3 Universitas 21 Global was launched in September 2000 with headquarters in Singa­pore as a S$90m joint ven­ture between Universitas 21, ⁶ Thomson Learning - a US-based educational publisher - and a global consortium of 16 universities. The online institute wants to tap into the vast potential demand for higher education, partic­ularly in Asia. It also aims to break away from the elitist model of higher education by making tertiary educa­tion accessible to more peo­ple.

4 E-learning is seen as offer­ing a less traditional model of learning, allowing instructors to act as facilita­tors or mentors. It also allows for greater expres­sion, giving everyone in the virtual classroom space an equal voice. 'An online course is more democratic, everybody has a voice, where you don't have just your typi­cal Anglo-Saxon who is loud and talks more,' says Mr Williams.

5 The Master of Business Administration degree con­ferred by the institute is globally recognised, as it bears the stamp of all 16 uni­versities. By providing top-class business education online, Universitas 21 Global says that it is offering an alternative route for stu­dents in Asia, who cannot afford to pay for higher edu­cation or travel to the US, UK or Australia. To make its online MBA programme affordable, the institute charges varying tuition fees, depending on where the stu­dents come from.

6 Mukesh Aghi, chief execu­tive officer at Universitas 21 Global, says: 'I think it's not fair to pay one price for education when the income level varies from country to country. Our pricing model takes into account the GDP of each country' For instance, the institute charges US$20,000 for an American student following Universitas 21 Global's MBA programme, whereas a stu­dent in India would pay US$7,000 for the same course.

7 The reasonable cost struc­ture, coupled with flexibility of both time and curricu­lum, offers a huge incentive for working professionals. Srinivas Lakshmikumar, business consultant with LogicaCMG, says that doing the MBA online was a natur­al choice, given his hectic travel schedule. Also, in countries like India, more and more people will have to start working early and fund their own education due to increasingly higher educa­tion costs,' says Mr Laksh­mikumar. 'Not all can afford the traditional luxury of studying on full-time courses with support from parents.'

8 India is one of the key markets Universitas 21 Glob­al is targeting to expand its business in Asia. 'Education is very much valued there,' explains Mr Aghi. 'Given the caste system, education becomes an equaliser.' Cou­pled with a large English-speaking population and an extensive use of the Internet, the online structure of the course makes it very attractive to prospective students and corporations.

9 China, on the other hand -where Universitas 21 Global introduced its online MBA course in April this year -could prove to be a chal­lenge, says Mr Aghi. 'We're still in the process of getting approval from the ministry of education'. The online MBA programme will cost 70,000 renminbi (£4,600), about one-quarter of the cost of an MBA programme offered by universities in China.

10 However, Mr Aghi accepts that brand recognition is very important, especially when it comes to business education. The prestigious French business school, Insead, has a campus in Sin­gapore, and the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business also offers an eMBA out of the city-state: Mr Aghi says building criti­cal mass will not be easy. 'I agree brand recognition is very important in education. But at the end of the day, we're not competing with the bricks-and-mortar universi­ties but complementing them. Our target group is someone who is probably married and is a working professional,' he says. 'We know we're the new kid on the block, that's our limita­tion. But I'm also confident we can become a recognised brand in five years.'

III. Complete the following summary of the article.

Universilas 21 Global is an............ ¹MBA programme based in Singapore which is recognised by............² and tertiary institutes worldwide. The course is seen to be more accessible, as the............³ vary according to the GDP of a student's country. The low cost and flexibility of online study make the course ideal for people who cannot afford to study at prestigious business schools............⁴.

The eMBA has also proven especially popular with Indian students, who often have to pay for their own............⁵. China, however, may turn out to be a more difficult key............ ⁶ to break into.

The chief executive officer at Universitas 21 Global admits it may take another five years for the course to become more widely............ ⁷, although he also points out that the eMBA has the advantage of attracting more............ ⁸ students.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 2247