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Online Distance Learning ForumWednesday, February 22, 2006Working Out, Online Degrees and Networking - Students and Degrees Have Certainly Changed
Here in the UK college students do not have quite the same reputation as those in the US. There is no doubting the quality of our universities - and I don’t just mean Oxford and Cambridge, but students have traditionally been seen as beer-swilling, junk-food eating slobs.
Apparently, these days this is no longer true. You are as likely to see a student in the gym as in the pub, and with rising fees, most students spend more time serving behind bars than drinking at them. The point is, it got me thinking about how much further education has changed in the 13 years since I finished my degree. Educational institutions are having to become fitter and leaner - just like their students. Moreover, students who would struggle to pay for a full-time degree now have the chance to work and study in equal measure. Flexible options such as online degrees are helping to change the face of the modern student. Another big difference is the range of degrees available today. Paralegal studies, homeland security and networking are relatively new online degrees, but all of them have proved successful among both high school graduates and working professionals. Online degrees such as networking reflect a world of business almost unrecognisable from the one I entered in 1993. We can expect many more changes in the future.
Comments:
I definitely see some of that. I think there are still plenty of beer-swilling and junk food eating slobs out there, but there definitely is a stronger current of youth who work out, eat organic food, and generally pay a lot more attention to their overall health than past their predecessors. I think online degrees can be popular because they allow students to continue their kind of lifestyle. It may be an interesting challenge to traditional campus colleges to better cater to these new lifestyle demands to keep their enrollments up.
There are such big changes afoot in further education all over the world. Here in the UK, a shift is starting towards more vocational degrees as one potential way of paying off five figure student debts.
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The issue is a complicated one, and I for one would hate to see a big reduction in arts based degrees, but online degrees are definitely part of this shift towards more practical means of study. In the UK and the US, there is a growing shift towards careers in business, medicine and administration. Online degrees are particularly well-served in these areas, with MBA's and online degress in business and public health. I am a firm believer that a degree must deliver skills such as interpersonal skills, teamwork and research, as well as vocational training. The brave new world of online degrees and vocational courses have a responsibiity to do that too. << Home Archives
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