Internet points the way to distance learning

The "virtual campus" brings university life into your home Keystone

A "virtual campus", centred around the Internet, has been launched to enable people to follow correspondence courses in Switzerland.

Participants studying through the “virtual campus” use the Internet to communicate and receive materials online. It’s seen as particularly useful for people who are unable to attend university.

A key motivation behind the project is to address the gap between the Swiss and some of their neighbours. Switzerland lags behind the France and Britain, as well as the United States and Canada, in the provision of correspondence courses.

Not everyone agrees with the idea of the “virtual campus”, though. Boris Kohler, director of the centre for correspondence courses in French-speaking Switzerland, criticised the courses as “insufficient”, saying they were far inferior to a normal correspondence course.

However, the “virtual campus” has found support in other quarters. The government is supporting it to the tune of SFr30 million ($18 million), and other academics have come out in support of the idea.

Edo Poglia of the University of Italian Switzerland said such courses were ideal for people who, for mobility or family reasons, were unable to attend university.

It’s not cheap, though, costing up to five times more than a traditional correspondence course.

swissinfo with agencies