Half of the University of Manchester’s students will be studying online in the next 10 years as the institution pivots to more flexible learning, according to its latest strategy.
The Russell Group institution, one of the UK’s largest, has announced plans to expand beyond its traditional fully campus-based model of higher education and increase its digital and global presence, as well as its flexible learning opportunities.
A “fully digital campus…without borders” will be created, its head of teaching told Times Higher Education, with online facilities being developed in an attempt to address concerns about remote students being disconnected from the university experience.
While the university already offers some online programmes and maintains four global centres in Dubai, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore, its 2035 Strategy agreed last month outlines plans to massively increase this activity with an eventual aim for “half of our students to study online or through workplace routes”.
Jenn Hallam, vice-president for teaching, learning and students at Manchester, said that about 20 per cent of its student cohort will be online-only, and a further 30 per cent will be hybrid.
Such students could either be on traditional undergraduate or master’s courses, or, as the strategy suggests, on new workplace routes that will be developed alongside businesses to encourage lifelong learning and professional development.
“It’s one of our most ambitious plans within the strategy,” Hallam said. “What we want is to try and remove barriers to higher education. The ambition is to create a campus without borders so that students or professionals, regardless of what stage you’re at in your learning journey, have the opportunity to come to Manchester to learn.”
How tuition fees will be set between on-campus and online students has not been determined yet, said Hallam. “Our priority is getting the portfolio and offer right for learners, and we will determine the price point as part of that process,” she said.
Courses could see on-campus students and online-only students mix in seminars but Hallam said the aim was not to remove the campus experience for those who want it but to “expand it into that digital arena”.
The university is also looking at creating a “digital campus”. While this might not be an augmented-reality version of the campus, Hallam outlined that the online facilities – currently being trialled under the name Manchester Online – will not just be a “static repository of information”, and it will be “more interactive”, with 24/7 support available online, as well as “connection opportunities and community spaces to engage in”.
Increased flexibility will benefit on-campus students too, she said, adding that the strategy tries to address “how do we also meet their needs in terms of flexible learning?”, noting the university has a growing number of commuter students, and those with caring responsibilities.
The strategy comes at a time when many universities are looking to save money and pause major spending projects. However, Hallam sees the project as a “necessary move” to stay competitive.
“At Manchester, we are cognisant of the change in the higher education landscape and we want to be ambitious in how we respond to that and think quite differently on what that looks like,” she said.
“We can’t predict what’s going to come next, but we want to give ourselves the foundations and the building blocks to be able to pivot to what [the future looks like], whether it’s changing markets or changing requirements for different courses. So we are challenging ourselves, but it’s in a way that’s responding to those changes in higher education.”
juliette.rowsell
