new universities

• A total of 23 statements of intent were submitted (to HEFCE) by the end-of-June deadline. These have been assessed against the criteria in the consultation.
  The HEFCE Board, at its meeting on 25 September, considered the 23 statements of intent it had received. It concluded that six could be developed further. These are:
  
  

1. Somerset (various locations) (lead HEI – Bournemouth University)
2. Crawley (lead HEI – University of Brighton)
3. Milton Keynes (lead HEI – University of Bedfordshire)
4. Swindon (lead HEI – University of the West of England, Bristol)
5. Thurrock (lead HEI – University of Essex)
6. The Wirral (lead HEI – University of Chester)

Read full HEFCE announcement

I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time?  But what about all the existing Universities dilemma who face caps on numbers, resulting in potential students being turned away?  Time to give flexible/distance/blended learning a go, me thinks :O)

Mind you, if this article about UK Unversities investment into the U21Global distancel learning portal is anything to go by, we should exercise some caution. Smells similar to the £50 million loss UKeU in the making? But we live in hope that a longer term perspective can be deployed. Again, the great potential of e-learning/distance learning has been oversold.