Tuesday, April 18, 2000

Leaders of 22 Virtual Universities Sign Pledge to Cooperate By JEFFREY R. YOUNG Executive officers from 22 virtual universities across North America signed an agreement Friday pledging to encourage transfer arrangements and other types of collaboration among their institutions. The agreement was one result of a two-day summit for virtual-university leaders organized by the Kentucky Commonwealth Virtual University. "We have to cooperate in order to grow the business," said Mary Beth Susman, chief executive officer of the Kentucky university, in an interview Monday. The intent of the agreement is that students taking courses online will one day be able to transfer their course credits seamlessly from one virtual university to another, said Ms. Susman. That would make it easier for students to get a degree by cobbling together offerings from a number of online providers. The agreement is largely symbolic, however, since some of the leaders who signed it don't have the authority to set policy on transferring credits. Kentucky's virtual university, for instance, doesn't deliver its own courses, but instead provides support services for colleges and universities in the state that are involved in distance education. Those institutions determine what course credits they will accept from other colleges and universities. But even a pledge to cooperate is unusual considering that, in many ways, the 22 institutions are competitors in cyberspace. One theme of the summit was that virtual universities have much to gain by working together. "The colleges and universities who accept each other's credits, those are the colleges and universities that will be the best survivors in this environment," Ms. Susman added. The leaders who attended the summit also discussed other ways that virtual universities might work together, such as buying equipment and software in groups and sharing best-practice information and research. For Cathy Gunn, director of the Illinois Virtual Campus, the most valuable part of the two-day summit was talking with her peers from other institutions. She said the meeting was the first time that so many virtual-university leaders had gathered in one place. "I really need to talk to other people who are going through the same things that I am," said Ms. Gunn. "Now we have a network of people." The leaders tentatively agreed to start an association of virtual-university executive officers, though details have not yet been worked out. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

Supreme Court to decide whether public colleges can be sued under federal disabilities law Most U.S. students support diversity but not affirmative action, a survey finds A.A.U.P. report blasts U. of Central Arkansas for firing professor without a hearing E-commerce may help colleges cut costs and paperwork Leaders of 22 virtual universities sign pledge to cooperate