Higher Education Funding Council England (HEFCE)
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Task force to help extend position of UK as world leader in online learning
An Online Learning Task Force has been set up to help the UK higher education (HE) sector maintain and extend its position as a world leader in online learning.
The task force, chaired by Dame Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, will make recommendations to HEFCE and other relevant government agencies and institutions regarding the development of excellence in online learning.
It will begin by looking at four key areas: the current levels of online provision in the UK; the international market for online learning; levels of demand from new, and prospective, students; and perceptions of online learning in UK HE.
The task force will also investigate different business models for delivering online learning. This will help higher education institutions in planning this form of provision. It will meet over the next year, and will provide an interim report in the spring and a final report in October 2010.
Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE, said:
The task force intends to encourage debate and discussion on an increasingly important topic in higher education: how to maximise the potential of online learning and technology in order to satisfy the needs of students, education providers and employers.
'The evidence this group gathers, and its recommendations, will play a crucial role in extending the UK’s position as a world leader in online learning over the next few years. It will provide valuable guidance on how to target investment in order to keep pace with the ever changing learner landscape.'
Dame Lynne Brindley, Chief Executive of the British Library, said:
'I am delighted to be chairing this new task force exploring the increasingly important role of online learning. We are looking at how to meet the changing demands of students and employers, creating a flexible approach to learning and enabling the UK's higher education sector to compete successfully in a global market.'
Notes
More about the Online Learning Task Force
| Task force members | |
|---|---|
| Martin Bean | Vice-Chancellor, Open University |
| Steve Beswick | UK Director of Education, Microsoft |
| Dame Lynne Brindley (Chair) | Chief Executive, British Library |
| Professor Philip Garrahan | Pro Vice-Chancellor, Sheffield Hallam University |
| Professor Caroline Gipps | Vice-Chancellor, University of Wolverhampton |
| Richard Halkett | Director of Strategy and Research, Cisco |
| Sharon Huttly | Professor and Dean of Studies, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine |
| Sir Alan Langlands | Chief Executive, HEFCE |
| Sobroto Mozumdar | President of Higher and Professional Education, Pearson Education Ltd |
| Mike Munn | Director for Higher Education for UK and Ireland, Apple |
| Don Olcott | Chief Executive, The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education |
| Professor Tim O'Shea | Principal, Edinburgh University and Chair of JISC |
| Aaron Porter | Vice-President (Higher Education), National Union of Students |
| Professor Gilly Salmon | University of Leicester |
| Professor Rick Trainor | Principal, Kings College London |
| Kevin Van-Cauter | Higher Education Advisor, British Council |
| John Widdowson | Principal, New College Durham |
| Martin Williams | Director of Higher Education, BIS |
| Advisor | |
| Judith Nichol | Knowledge Partnerships Manager, BBC |
| Observers | |
| Sean Mackney | Deputy Chief Executive, Higher Education Academy |
| John McLaughlin | BIS |
| Malcolm Read | Executive Secretary, JISC |
| Secretariat | |
| John Selby | Director (Education and Participation), HEFCE |
| Gemma Cadogan | Policy Adviser, HEFCE |
| Alan Palmer | Policy Adviser, HEFCE |
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and one of the world's greatest research libraries. It provides world class information services to the academic, business, research and scientific communities and offers unparalleled access to the world's largest and most comprehensive research collection. The Library's collection has developed over 250 years and exceeds 150 million separate items representing every age of written civilisation. It includes: books, journals, manuscripts, maps, stamps, music, patents, newspapers and sound recordings in all written and spoken languages.
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