The virtual university is a reality. Unique in design but traditional in focus, virtual universities offer learners the opportunity to move beyond the barriers of physical space and time by taking courses online.

The potential of the virtual university is seen in the offerings of companies like UNext.1 Founded in late 1997, UNext is committed to developing and delivering high-quality higher education to learners around the globe.

It is this idea that led the company to launch Cardean University, an online university that delivers postsecondary business, executive, and professional education, and is authorized to offer a Master's degree in Business Administration.

UNext and Cardean University have established a consortium of elite academic institutions including Columbia University, Stanford University, the University of Chicago, Carnegie Mellon University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science. UNext is collaborating with faculty members from these institutions as well as other leading scholars and experts to produce a unique, state-of-the-art educational experience on the Internet.

UNext focuses on "enhanced learning"-a learning platform that combines the advantages of a traditional university setting, such as community and collaboration, with the flexibility and responsiveness of online learning. Its approach is driven by one core idea: that the Internet fosters real learning because it facilitates collaborative and productive "learning by doing" activities. In this way, students, who may otherwise be unable to return for a graduate degree or who need continuing education, may enhance their skills and knowledge, and receive a chance at extending their learning prospects.

The Concord University School of Law2 provides another online model, one focusing on legal education. Because of work and family obligations, financial or geographic constraints, or even physical disability, many who want to become attorneys find that their goal is elusive.

Founded in 1998 by Kaplan, Inc., Concord University School of Law provides legal education to people unable to attend a fixed facility program. On average, the Concord student is 40 years old. Nearly a third of students enrolled hold advanced degrees. Many Concord students live in communities where there is little or no access to a law school. Others have a law school in the area, but still choose Concord for the flexibility and convenience of its wholly online delivery.
Concord's curriculum, casebooks, and textbooks are the same as those found at law school campuses nationwide. Students access the curriculum through their "Personal Homepage," which provides an interactive syllabus for each course. Lectures are viewed on the Internet with students logging on at their convenience 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Although Concord's virtual law school is only in its third year, the early reports show good results. The initial 2 groups of Concord students sitting for the First Year Law Student Examination in California had first-time pass rates ranging from 20 percent to 33 percent higher than the state average. They scored 80 percent higher than students from other American Bar Association-approved programs who have been required to take the exam during the last five years.

A third approach is OnlineLearning.net,3 one of the largest virtual universities in the U.S. OnlineLearning.net selects prominent university partners and then helps them produce and market their fully accredited courses and programs to working professionals. The classes are small in size, interactive, instructor-led, and highly collaborative. In addition, it provides students with an "online concierge" in every course, and has a unique online faculty and instructor development program. More than 90 percent of the students enrolled in courses complete them, with 85 percent rating the courses "as good or better than face-to-face learning."

The University of Phoenix Online program4 was started in 1989 and has been providing complete degree programs for working adult students for over a decade. With 1,200 faculty members, it currently offers 10 accredited degree programs in business, education, information technology, and nursing. Currently over 15,000 students attend class via the online program. While the University's enrollments have grown at over 22 percent per year, the Online campus has routinely grown at over 50 percent per year. The popularity of this program is proof that there is a demand for alternative delivery modes in higher education.

Virtual universities are helping learners connect with a new world of educational opportunities. Through these and similar programs students around the world are accessing the best educational resources-anytime, anywhere, at any stage in life.

1. http://www.unext.com/
2. http://www.concordlawschool.com/
3. http://www.onlinelearning.net/
4. http://www.phoenix.edu/