Why Doesn't Colorado Become The University Of The World?

Why doesn't Colorado become the university of the world?

It is now possible, or so I am told, for university classes to be conducted in one city and made interactive in one or more distant cities--in real time.  Obviously, various kinds of distance learning are now taking place.  Quite a number of universities permit alumni to monitor or even enroll in classes using computer technology.

 

Here in Colorado we have both major state and private universities and colleges.  But, since the dawn of the cable television era, we became a communications center of gravity.  Liberty Media, Qwest, Jones Intercable, Daniels, and a number of other communications pioneers and innovators have made the greater Denver area a national and international communications center.

 

Why wouldn't it be possible for professors at the University of Colorado, Colorado College, the University of Denver, Regis, or a number of other centers of learning offer classes to students in Buenos Aires, Beijing, and Moscow in real time?  A consortium of communications companies could establish the technology either in a central broadcast center or in individual wired classrooms at each school.  And professors trained to do so could lecture and conduct discussions with students in selected locations around the world.

 

Foreign students proficient in English, and there are many, could receive credit for courses eminating from Colorado or actually receive degrees from Colorado institutions.  Leaving aside the obvious economic benefits from worldwide tuition and fees, we in Colorado would be known as a global education center.

 

Our political and educational leadership should be encouraged to explore a 21st century notion such as this.  If we don't, someone else soon will.

 

 

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Comments

[kevinjjones]

Colorado's universities are already too globalist in orientation. Students can go through school without ever learning about local history, for instance. Worse, CU-Boulder has a policy discouraging the hiring of PhDs who come up through the CU system. That's a sure way to drive off the native born.

We'd be better off culturally if we try to retain our homegrown brightest, rather than try to attract the transient attention of foreign students seeking career training.

You wouldn't know it from the way some people go on and on about the merits of global thinking, but there's nothing shameful in having a local or a regional orientation.

[RedStateCenterLeft]

That's OK Gary, they're already doing this in Kansas at Fort Hays State. Yep, the state that has problems believing in evolution has distance centers in China and Turkey. Half of it's enrollment is online, with even Navy submariners taking classes. Way cool, eh?

[Neal Jansons]

Right...be­cause that's just what the world needs: more Americans telling everyone how to think, live, and act.

I think that, when it comes to the world stage, America needs to learn to speak less and listen more.

[Micah Schwalb]

While it is technically feasible for users in distant classrooms to access university classes, Colorado's institutions of higher education would have to receive prior approvals before they could offer classes or degrees in those foreign jurisdictions. China in particular imposes a rigorous set of requirements upon entities seeking to provide higher education in the PRC, requirements that underfunded Colorado universities would have difficulties complying with, given the financial situation in the Centennial State.