The Global Campus Project – Using e-learning to extend access to new populations of students

Abstract

The Global Campus (GC) project started in May 1999 between the School of Computing Science (SCS) of Middlesex University (MU) and the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Centre (RITSEC) in Cairo[1]. RITSEC were keen to further develop their collaboration with Middlesex University and it was decided to launch a complete MSc programme in Distance Learning (DL) mode. This was in line with the University strategy to expand its provision overseas to meet the vast demand for British higher education abroad by offering e-learning supported programmes to provide access to students who would otherwise be unable to benefit due to the prohibitive costs of studying in the UK. At the time there was a worldwide demand for IT/Computing academic qualifications offering good employment opportunities. Professor Mark Woodman, who joined the School from Open University, played a key role in specifying the pedagogy, determining the structure of the Web-based material and choosing the technology for delivering and implementing the e-learning programmes. During the course of the project, GC programmes were delivered to students at seven collaborative partner institutions located in five countries: China, Cyprus, Egypt, Hong Kong and Singapore. These programmes were part of the portfolio of the Business Information Systems (BIS) Academic group of the SCS and the same programmes were also delivered to students at our London campus. All programmes employed the same course management, assessment and quality control procedures so that all students had an equivalent learning experience. These procedures complied with the standards laid down by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) of the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE). The paper is an attempt to analyse our experience once the project came to an end with the start of the Academic year 2007/8.