UKeU

The UKeU (UK eUniversities Worldwide Limited) was a company and website that promoted online degrees from UK universities.UKeU delivered courses over a learning environment developed by Sun Microsystems UK. It was set up with UK public funds under the auspices of the Higher Education Funding Council for England. It operated between 2000-2004 and was subsequently wound down having failed to deliver its targets.

The UKeU was first proposed as a concept by David Blunkett, then Secretary of State for Education for the UK, in a speech in February 2000, as a vehicle to deliver the best of UK higher education in online fashion across the world. The Secretary of State instructed the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to take the lead in putting this into practice.

Many universities already offered their own online courses. The Scottish universities were not part of the UKeU. The idea behind the UKeU was that it would be a broker, an agent marketing online degrees and providing a technological platform to facilitate expansion.

By late summer 2000, the key initial studies on business model, tools and markets had already been done and a shadow body, the e-University Steering Group had been established. By May 2001 many follow-up studies had been done and the operating company UK eUniversities Worldwide Limited had been incorporated; by summer 2001 an Interim Management Team had been appointed; and by October 2001 the Strategic Agreement had been signed by Sun Microsystems. By March 2002 a new Chairman and CEO were in post and the Framework Agreement had been signed with Sun to commence development of the e-learning platform. Much of the cost of the UKeU was absorbed by the development of the technical platform and it was suggested that existing web-based learning platforms could have been used or adapted for use at a fraction of the cost. Sun Microsystems contributed "£3.5 million of professional services and hardware" rather than cash.

The UkeU did not award its own degrees, instead contracting with universities to offer theirs. The company focused on infrastructure development, course development support, quality assurance, and marketing. The target audiences were primarily international graduate students who wished to study online rather than come to the U.K. By March 2003 two courses had been launched, from the Open University and Sheffield Hallam University, with many further courses following in autumn 2003 making a total of 15. By January 2004 some 25 courses were recruiting students.

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