United Kingdom

This page is a survey of the situation in the United Kingdom.

For a list of entities in the United Kingdom relevant to e-learning, see Category:United Kingdom.

For additional information for e-learning related to higher education in the various home nations of the UK and its dependent islands see the specific pages:

• England
• Wales
• Northern Ireland
• Guernsey, Jersey and Isle of Man

Partners situated in the United Kingdom

Matic Media Ltd is based in the UK.

The United Kingdom in a nutshell

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK, or Britain is an island country located off the north-western coast of mainland Europe.

The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the northeast part of the island of Ireland and many small islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK with a land border, sharing it with the Republic of Ireland.

Apart from this land border, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel and the Irish Sea. The largest island, Great Britain, is linked to France by the Channel Tunnel.

The United Kingdom is a political union of four "home nations" England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. In the longer term the total or partial break-up of the union now appears inevitable to an increasing number of commentators but the best evidence is that such a discontinuity is still some years ahead. However, already (as in Canada) the various education systems in the four home nations are significantly different and getting more so.

The United Kingdom is a parliamentary democracy with its seat of government in London, the capital, and a constitutional monarchy with the Queen as the head of state.

The Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands (Guernsey and Jersey) and the Isle of Man, formally possessions of the Crown, are not part of the UK but form a federacy with it. See separate entries for these.

The UK has fourteen British overseas territories, all remnants of the British Empire, which at its height encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface, making it the largest empire in history. As a direct result of the empire, British influence can be observed in the language and culture of states such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Singapore, Sri Lanka and the United States, and other less globally influential independent states. The Queen remains the head of the Commonwealth and head of state of the several Commonwealth countries.

The UK is a developed country with the sixth largest economy in the world. It was the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th century, but the economic cost of two world wars and the decline of its empire in the latter half of the 20th century diminished its leading role in global affairs. The UK nevertheless retains strong economic, cultural, military and political influence.

It is a member of the European Union.

The United Kingdom education policy

Education policy is devolved to the four home nations, both for schools and for tertiary education.

For schools and for universities there are still many similarities between England, Wales and Northern Ireland (EWNI) - but Scotland is very different. In particular, the exit qualifications for Scotland are different from those in EWNI and a typical university course (BA or BSc programme) is four years not three.

Each home nation has a Department or Ministry (sometimes more than one) looking after education. For example in England there is DCSF for schools and DIUS for universities, with some shared areas of responsibility especially for tertiary non-university education.

Some developmental or regulatory agencies - in particular QAA, JISC and the Higher Education Academy are (still) shared across the four home nations, but with significant degrees of local autonomy.

The United Kingdom education system

Children must attend school from the ages of 5 until 16. This age is likely to rise soon in most home nations.

Although many children attend publicly funded schools, private schools also exist and cater for a percentage of the population.

In England in a few years time, children will have to be in some form of compulsory education or training (at school, college or university) until 19 - and special arrangements are being made for the "14-19 agenda".

Across EWNI, children take two stages of exit examinations; GCSE typically at 16 and (for many but not all) A levels at typically age 18.

In Scotland the exit examinations have different name and levels - Lowers and Highers.

The situation for higher education is described below.

Higher education

Universities in the United Kingdom

There are somewhat around 130 universities in the UK. The variance comes mainly from deciding which components of the federal University of London are "universities" in their own right.

The Wikipedia page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_universities_in_the_United_Kingdom gives a full list with links to a Wikipedia page on each. Below is a list of around two dozen some that are better known for large-scale e-learning implementation or significant activity (including research) related to this, which Re.ViCa is considering for MELI and NELI analysis.

1. University of Bolton
2. University of Cambridge
3. Canterbury Christ Church University
4. University of Derby
5. University of Edinburgh
6. University of Glamorgan
7. Heriot-Watt University
8. University of Leicester
9. University of Liverpool
10. Institute of Education
11. Middlesex University
12. Northumbria University
13. University of Nottingham
14. Open University
15. University of Oxford
16. Oxford Brookes University
17. Queen's University Belfast
18. Robert Gordon University
19. Sheffield Hallam University
20. University of Southampton
21. Staffordshire University
22. University of Strathclyde
23. University of Ulster
24. University of Wolverhampton
25. University of Worcester

For those who want to check against more "official" lists, Universities UK (UUK), the Association of UK universities, has 132 members, but this includes some university colleges also. The HERO web site at http://www.hero.ac.uk/uk/universities___colleges/index.cfm also links to all universities and colleges.

Polytechnics in the United Kingdom

The word "polytechnic" is now no longer used in the UK. Thus in this subsection we discuss university colleges and other tertiary providers.

University colleges

As noted in Wikipedia:

The term "university college" is used in a number of countries to denote institutions that provide tertiary education but do not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. Precise usage varies between countries.

In the UK the situation is confused, but not identical to the general situation. Typically, university colleges are independent institutions which are too small to be counted as universities and usually also have some restriction on their ability to grant the full range of degrees especially research degrees (doctorates). In the past, as university colleges grew and developed in sophistication and competence, they tended to become approved as universities - this process is ongoing.

(By tradition, some prestigous institutions that are or were part of the University of London are also called "University College". These are covered above.)

At present (due to many having been upgraded recently) there is a historically low number of university colleges in the UK. Although several are active in e-learning and took part in the UK benchmarking exercise, none are currently engaged in large-scale e-learning activity. Among those of most relevance longer-term are:

• University College for the Creative Arts (at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester)
• University College Falmouth
• St Mary's University College, Twickenham, London
• University College Plymouth St Mark & St John

The links given are to their benchmarking activities on the UK wiki covering e-learning.

Colleges of higher education

In the typical British way, there is no definition of a "college of higher education". However, in general terms they consist of institutions which are small and specialised and which do not award their own degrees - but in the typical British way this rule is only a guideline. Areas of specialisation are usually one or more of music, dance, drama, art, teacher training, theology, agriculture or nautical studies.

A very few are innovative in e-learning, but not many. Examples of those who are include:

• Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication

The United Kingdom's HEIs in the information society

Information society strategy

Major e-learning initiatives in the United Kingdom

What follows is just some highlights.

As a matter of historical interest, the actual phrase virtual campus is (still) used in the way it is defined in this chapter at the following UK universities and colleges:

• Universities. University of Lincoln, University of London External Programme, Oxford Brookes University and Robert Gordon University. (Sheffield Hallam University used the phrase for several years but is said to feel that nowadays the phrase is insufficiently distinctive.)
• Colleges. City of Bristol College, Glenrothes College, North West Institute of Further and Higher Education (Londonderry), St Helens College, and the Western Colleges Consortium.
• NHS. The NHS University (NHSU) and several medical schools including at Kings College London use or used the phrase.
• Ulster University’s Campus One describes itself as a virtual campus.
• One supplier’s product is called the “Teknical Virtual Campus”

England

In addition to the Open University and the London External Programme, there are around six English universities with substantial operational off-campus e-learning activity. These include Middlesex University (Global Campus) and the University of Liverpool (formerly called the KIT Campus) as perhaps the largest nodes of activity. A number of members of the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) are increasingly active in this space, in particular the University of Manchester, University of Sheffield and University of Leeds, as is the University of Derby (in the Global University Alliance, GUA). A more specific set of courses is at the University of Portsmouth (Technology Extended Campus), some in conjunction with Pearsons (the publishers).

There are also several UK members of Universitas 21 and at present most of their overt off-campus e-learning activity appears to be via that.

Scotland

In Scotland, Scottish Knowledge has closed down but there was until a year ago growing activity at its partial successor, the Interactive University - now closed, based largely round [[Heriot-Watt University. A number of other Scottish Universities are also active, perhaps with Robert Gordon University (Virtual Campus) in the lead.

Wales

In Wales, the University of Glamorgan (a member of GUA) is a leading player.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, the University of Ulster (Campus One) is the leading player.

References

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