VIEW THE REPORT, "VIRUTAL COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY CONSORTIA"

A few years ago, one could easily detect a growing sense of hope and prosperity for virtual universities in America. Many state leaders believed that distance learning could expand educational access and increase economic development, and that putting resources into a consortial virtual university made sense financially. Statewide agencies saw opportunities to explore, develop, and influence policy innovation outside of traditional structures. Institutional leaders feared their institutions would be "left behind" if they didn't join or create a virtual university and put courses and programs online. By the year 2000, almost every state in the nation had created some initiative or entity resembling a virtual university.

Then 2001 brought the dot-com fall-out. In higher education, this drove more realistic assessments of the realities, costs, and payoffs of distance learning. While internet-based distance learning continues to be a growing concern for many campus-based initiatives, the consortial virtual universities have yet to prove their long-term viability. State and system leaders still view them as a vital part of the solution for meeting statewide educational and policy goals. But as Carol Twigg recently noted, "it is questionable how far these consortial efforts, as currently constructed, can go toward meeting their key goal of economic development" (The Learning MarketSpace, January 1, 2002).

Indeed, we know very little about the successes and failures of the virtual university movement in America. These statewide virtual universities were founded with worthy goals in mind, such as to provide for a better-educated workforce, increase personal prosperity for citizens, strengthen the state's economy, and expand educational access. The salient question SHEEOs need to know now is, to what extent do we know or understand whether virtual universities are meeting the goals for which they were designed? There is currently very little guidance or research to help state and system leaders determine the feasibility of creating or joining a statewide or multi-campus virtual university. Furthermore, once created, there are no comparative measures by which state and institutional "investors" can benchmark their success.

SHEEO and WCET (Western Cooperative for Educational Telecommunications) supported a national study which raised some pointed questions about the functions, challenges, and outcomes of statewide consortial virtual universities across the United States.

The 2003 report, Virtual College and University Consortia, is now available.

This project was led by Dr. Rhonda M. Epper, DIrector of Online Program Development at the Community College of Denver, and Myk Garn, Chief Academic Officer for the Kentucky Virtual University.