Virtual universities have been a catastrophic failure despite early predictions that web-based learning was a "tsunami that was sweeping [the] ivy-clad university of the past away", according to a leading Australian academic.

Monash University professor Simon Marginson argues that global e-learning ventures have not attracted a critical mass of students because they failed to understand that online degrees do not command the same status from students, academics and the community as traditional qualifications.

His research has serious implications for the beleaguered Universitas 21 Global - a consortium of 16 universities including Melbourne University, University of NSW, University of Queensland and US publisher Thomson Learning - which has fallen dramatically short of student and financial forecasts.

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By David Rood

Article source: Sydney Morning Herald