Good news for distance
learners!! Leaders of higher education will be taking bigger attempts
to simplify all rules and regulations at colleges in order to enrol
students coming from different countries. This will result in the
global expansion of the online education market.
As per rules, colleges
must seek authorisation from each and every state where they would
like to offer online programmes. The requirements and fees would vary
accordingly from one state to another. However, the education leaders
objected on the cost factor and said that the entire system would be
extremely pricey, especially during such a time when millions of
students are showing keen interest in making use of online technology
for completing higher education.
It was just a couple of
weeks ago that a proposal came over from the commission led by
Richard W. Riley, the former education secretary of the United States
stating that the states would be entering reciprocity agreements to
regulate online programmes. In other words, single home state
authorisation sustaining minimum standards for consumer protection
and institutional quality would only permit colleges to register
students coming from other states volunteering to take part.
According to Riley,
it’s his belief that the proposal is surely going to make a huge
difference in letting institutions offer distance learning courses
for higher education across the nation with more effectiveness. He
further said with enthusiasm that the opportunities will keep
increasing for students who wish to complete higher studies which in
turn would help the system take the lead in college completion rates.
The commission of
Richard W. Riley launched by the State Higher
Education Executive Officers and the Association of Public and
Land-grant Universities just the previous year comprised a total of
21 members out of which some came from states and colleges while some
were accrediting heads. The members said that the representatives
would be coming from the majority of states to meet in Indianapolis
for discussing on how to put their plans into action.
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| Excelsior College (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Assistant
vice president of Excelsior College and a commission member, Paul
Shiffman said the biggest hindrance that stops colleges from offering
online programmes in certain nations is the state-by-state
regulations. He further said that Excelsior would not register one of
its programmes in Massachusetts due to the rising expenses and red
tape. According to the commission, the present system said that a
public community college comprising 257 students in 5 states could
end up paying $76,100 in compliance with the regulations while a
public university could pay $5.5 million for complying with the rules
applicable in 49 states.
However, the commission
warned that the major issue was none other than consumer protection.
The states must be watchful and must therefore try to resolve
consumer complaints. (Source)
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