Time to break out from campus
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 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. It occurred to me then that we are paying lip service to state-of-the-art education, when we’re not using the state-of-the-art technology to deliver business education.”Mr Williams, who was a teaching fellow and associate professor at the Brisbane Graduate School of Business, where he held the post of MBA director, accepted a post at Universitas 21 Global, the global online graduate business school which started offering MBA courses in August last year. 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 would be the way of learning in the future, where we could make the paradigm shift from campus to online learning.”Universitas 21 Global was launched in September 2000 with headquarters in Singapore as a S$90m (￡28m) joint venture between Universitas 21, Thomson Learning - a US-based educational publisher - and a global consortium of 16 universities including Birmingham and Nottingham in the UK, McGill in Montreal and the University of Hong Kong.The online institute wants to tap into the vast potential demand for higher education, particularly in Asia. It aims to break away from the elitist model of higher education by making tertiary education accessible to more people.E-learning is seen as offering less rote learning and allows 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. “Because of the different time zones, students actually get a chance to reflect and craft insightful answers.”The Master of Business Administration degree conferred by the institute is globally recognised, as it bears the stamp of all 16 universities.U21 Pedagogica, an international accreditation body established by the partner universities, has reviewed and accredited the MBA programme. Mr Williams, who oversees the accreditation process, says the body ensures strict quality control of all subjects.”When we first came out with 15 subjects [for the MBA course], they were all rejected by Pedagogica. We had to go back to the drawing board and slowly and surely did what they wanted us to do.”It can be a very trying and laborious process. But the time taken is counterbalanced by the pride in and quality of the product when it’s approved.”Currently, the MBA programme offers 18 subjects; there are plans to introduce new disciplines - such as masters in information systems, public policy or public health - some time next year.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.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 [gross domestic product] of each country.”For instance, the institute charges US$20,000 (￡10,800) 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.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, the UK-based software services provider, who is one of the institute’s pioneer MBA students, 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.”Even student loans are not the solution, since the student won’t be earning while doing a full-time course. So people will start working with some basic qualification and they will feel the need for adding qualifications to their profile a few years down the line. Online courses offer the perfect solution to such problems.”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 so people are aggressive in wanting to learn.” Coupled with a large English-speaking population and a pervasive use of the internet, the online structure of the course makes it very attractive to prospective students and corporations.Birla, one of India’s oldest groups of companies, recently signed an agreement with the institute to put its employees through the MBA programme.China, on the other hand - where Universitas 21 Global introduced its online MBA course in April this year - would prove to be a challenge, says Mr Aghi. “We’re still in the process for 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. Universitas 21 Global hopes to recruit 50 to 100 mainland students by the end of this year.Mr Aghi believes the institute will face a challenge in gaining brand recognition in Asia, although being based in Singapore certainly allows the institute to “lean into India as well go forward to China”, given the city-state’s inter-hub status.However, Mr Aghi accepts that brand recognition is very important, especially when it comes to business education. 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. If we start building the scale today, it’s a target that can be achieved. The real challenge would be in keeping up the teaching quality and standard to stay relevant.”
走出“砖瓦水泥”的大学
在高等院校任教已有二十余载的副教授杰里米?威廉斯（Jeremy Williams）认为，从传统的课堂教育过渡到网上的在线教育并非难事。
他说：“突然有一天，我意识到现有的MBA授课方式不够地道，一切发生得很自然，就象接到了一个催起电话。”
他还说：“在传统的课堂里，我绘声绘色地讲述着商场上发生的一切，但这并不等同于商界的实际情况。这时，我便意识到，虽然我们天天嘴上喊着要让教育与时代发展同步，但事实上，我们却没有把最新技术运用于课堂。”
威廉斯先生是布里斯班商学院（Brisbane Graduate School of Business）的大学教员和副教授，负责MBA教学的指导工作，并接受了U21联合国际在线大学（Universitas 21 Global）的聘请，在该大学负责教学和评估工作，他也是在线教育的副教授。U21联合国际是一所网络大学，于去年8月开始提供MBA课程。
威廉斯先生说：“对我而言，这是开创事业的一个好机会。在线教育很有吸引力，也真实可靠。它会成为未来教育的模式，也是我们把课堂从实体大学搬到虚拟网络的范例。”
U21联合国际在线大学于2000年9月成立，总部设在新加坡，由Universitas 21、专门为全球企业和个人提供学习方案的服务商――汤姆森学习出版集团（Thomson Learning）和一个由16所大学共同组成的全球联合组织合资打造，投资总额为9000万新加坡元。这16所大学包括英国的伯明翰大学（Birmingham）、英国的诺丁汉大学（Nottingham）、蒙特利尔的麦吉尔大学（McGill）以及香港大学（University of Hong Kong）。
该网络大学的成立是为了抓住全球，尤其是亚洲对高等教育不断上涨的热烈需求，希望通过普及高等教育来打破过去只由少数人享受高等教育的模式。
在线教育没有很多死记硬背的内容，并让教师成了学生学习的协助者或指导者。这种教育模式还为学生提供了更多的表达空间，在这个虚拟的课堂空间里，每个人都享有平等的发言权。
威廉斯先生说：“在线教育更民主，每个人都有发言权，课堂不是‘一言堂’，没有典型的欧洲人在那里滔滔不绝地一味讲课。正是由于不同的时空因素，学生们就有机会思考并表达自己独到而深入的想法。”
U21联合国际在线大学颁发的工商管理硕士学位为全球所承认，因为证书上有16所大学的联合盖章。
另外，这16所大学还共同建立了一个全球性的资格审查组织――U21 Pedagogica。该机构已审查并通过了该大学的MBA课程。威廉斯先生便负责这整个审查过程。他说，该组织保证能严把所有科目的质量关。
他说：“当我们第一次拿出15门MBA课程的时候，遭到了U21 Pedagogica的否决，一门都没通过。我们不得不推倒重来，完全按照该机构的意见，一步一步地重新组织课程。这个过程很难捱，也很艰苦。但当我们的成果得到认可的时候，我们感到非常自豪，为课程的高质量感到骄傲，所有花下去的时间都得到了补偿。”
现在，该大学的MBA课程开设了18门课，并计划于明年另开新课，比如信息系统、公共政策或公共健康的硕士课程。
U21联合国际在线大学表示，学校希望通过提供一流的网络商学教育，为亚洲的学子提供另一种求学的途径。这些学生也许承担不起高等教育学费或无力支付去美国、英国或澳大利亚等国留学的费用。为了使广大学子读得起该校的MBA，学校根据学生的国籍收取不同的学费。
U21联合国际在线大学首席执行官缪克斯?阿吉(Mukesh Aghi)说：“各国的收入水平不同，如果按统一标准收费，我认为，这是不公平的。我们的收费标准考虑到了不同国家的国内生产总值。”
比如，上相同的MBA课程，美国学生的学费是2万美元，而印度学生的学费则为7000美元。
由于该校的收费标准合理，再加上课程设置和时间安排灵活，对于工作的专业人士而言，具有极大的吸引力。
逻辑家先杰公司(LogicaCMG)的商业顾问Srinivas Lakshmikumar说，由于自己行程繁忙，在线接受MBA教育是一个自然的选择。逻辑家先杰公司的总部设在美国，是一家软件服务供应商。Srinivas Lakshmikumar是U21联合国际在线大学首批MBA毕业生中的一员。
Lakshmikumar先生说：“在像印度这样的国家，由于学费日益增加，越来越多的人提早踏上工作岗位，以工助学。并不是所有人都能靠着父母的支持，接受全日制的高等教育。”
Lakshmikumar先生还说：“现在，就连学生贷款也不能完全解决问题，因为学生接受全日制教育的时候是无力挣钱还债的。因此，人们先凭着基本的学历开始工作，但几年之后，他们就会觉得需要继续充电，提高学历。而在线教育就是解决这些问题的绝佳途径。”
印度便是U21联合国际在线大学拓展亚洲市场的目标之一。
阿吉先生说：“印度非常看重教育。由于印度实行等级制度，所以平民便可通过教育提高自身的社会地位，也出于这个原因，人们对教育都非常重视。”另外，在印度讲英语的人口比例很大，网络使用普及率高，在线大学的网络课程对个人和公司都极具吸引力。
最近，印度历史最为悠久的集团之一比拉财团（Birla）与该校签署了一份合约，让旗下的员工接受该校的MBA课程。
阿吉先生说，进军中国市场具有挑战性。今年4月，该校向中国学生开放了MBA课程。他说：“我们已向中国教育部提出申请，但还未得到同意。”该校向就读MBA课程的中国学生收取7万人民币（合4600英镑）的学费，而在中国就读MBA课程的学费是其4倍。U21联合国际在线大学希望在今年年底之前从中国大陆招收50至100名学生。
阿吉先生认为，虽然该校设在新加坡，而且这个城市国家也占据着亚洲的中心位置，这样的地理位置能让学校“左逢印度，右亲中国”，但要在亚洲打造起该校的品牌，得到广泛的认可，仍然不是一件容易的事。
阿吉先生承认，让学校的品牌为人们所认可，是一件非常重要的事，尤其当学校打的是商学教育的品牌。法国INSEAD工商管理学院就在新加坡设有分校；芝加哥大学商学院（University of Chicago Graduate School of Business）在新加坡之外也开设MBA的网络课程。阿吉先生说，要让学校的学生达到一定规模不是一件容易的事。
他说：“我同意，打造教育的品牌非常重要，但最终，我们的目的不是与‘砖瓦水泥’式的大学竞争，而是与他们互补。我们针对的是那些已婚的或者工作中的专业人士。我们知道，我们只是这个领域中的新生儿，这是我们的局限。但我坚信，五年后，我们的品牌就能得到大家的认可。如果我们从今天开始努力，这个目标是可以实现的。真正的挑战在于我们如何才能保证教育的高质量和高标准，从而在这个领域中占有一席之地。”
