Bill Gates: Forget university, the web is the future for education

[systems]

I think online learning will grow as a valid option, but i don't think it will ever replace traditional universities.

The University experience for many (in my opinion most) is more than just learning, it's also about social networking, activities, etc ...

Most people still meet in coffee shops, club and sports clubs not in chat rooms

[csomar]

I met almost anyone I chatted with and was in my region (actually they were only two persons) and I had a business with one that we wouldn't do if we didn't meet off-line.

Talk with interesting people in your regional Network. And if they/you are really interesting you'll meet and make things together.

And as you said most people meet in coffee spaces, but the arrangement of the meeting can be done anywhere else and not only in University.

[drtse4]

I don't agree with Bill, hardly all the issues related to the transition from the current model to something full web-based could be solved in 5 years. I've personally witnessed from the inside the first experiments with online based univ teaching here in Italy(maybe not too relevant), and the result had the word failure plastered all over it. The initial enthusiasm, the progressive difficulties in keeping the students engaged that could never be addressed(new media-> unexpected problems) and lastly what i think could be considered a failure, students with definitely worst degree and that started dropping out. Quality free material will be increasingly available for sure, but for a typical student is not easy to maintain the consistency needed to study this way. Similarly, universities will have a hard time refactoring their curses to provide something usable/meaningful/useful.

What instead is already evident is the success of web-based courses not related to degrees, small packeted courses on a single subject that target young or not so young adults that want to learn a new language or other stuff. As you know there are a lot of interesting start-ups in this area.

[dreaming]

It would be a sad day if physical universities were replaced by online institutions.

University aught not just be a means to an end but a pretty good way to spend the present.

[itiztv]

it will be complementary rather than a replacement IMHO though

[nhebb]

Aside from quality of education debate, the migration toward online education will not get any traction until companies recognize online degrees as equivalent to brick and mortar degrees. I doubt that will happen within five years. I have no plans to make my kids the test subjects in this experiment, and I doubt many other parents will advise their kids against a brick and mortar degree if they can afford one.

[kragen]

To rephrase and reverse astrec's comment: Depends a little on what you hope to get from University: a vocational qualification or higher learning. People who are looking for higher learning are already using online resource instead of, or in addition to, existing universities. People who are looking for credentials will obviously go where the credentials are.

[timthorn]

Degrees from the Open University (as mentioned in the article) are indeed recognised as equivalent. The OU has a Royal Charter and has the same level of quality assurance as any other UK university.

From its inception in the '60s until a few years ago, all their lectures were broadcast on late night and Saturday morning TV, so anyone could watch high quality education for free well before the Internet.

[astrec]

Depends a little on what you hope to get from University: a vocational qualification or higher learning. He's right on the former, but so, so wrong on the latter: <insert Stephen Leacock quote here>.

[drtse4]

Same thing, different link http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1582402

[itiztv]

http://www.extension.harvard.edu/

http://scpd.stanford.edu/becomeAStudent/deliveryOptions.jsp

http://ischool.syr.edu/academics/distance/index.aspx

do we see a trend here

[dgroves]

Spoken like a man whom has never been to university, or maybe a man whom did not spend much time at one when he was there. The signal to noise ration of the Internet is just about inverse of what it is at my university.