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What is missing from the equation is an institution that would not just bring together individual universities in Europe, but would be European in essence. … Moocs constitute a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a truly European university. But it will have to be something substantially bigger than a simple online version of the Erasmus programme, and perhaps more complete than Coursera and Udacity. … A European online university is also necessary to boost the nascent European identity. Umberto Eco recently argued that a whole new generation of Europeans will be needed to build a nationalism-free Europe. … Finally, a European version of Coursera might spark in Britain a debate similar to the one about the UK's membership in the European Union. A European university without a few reputable UK institutions would be a halfway house. Chances are that some of them would be glad to join a partnership including Sorbonne, Freie Universitat and the like. Would this create a split across the UK sector between Europhile and Futurelearn institutions?
Via Peter B. Sloep, Peter Mellow
Are MOOCs in the USA often portroyed as a means to save money and beat the towering tuition fees, in Europe they could help create a European identity. And why not? What is missing from the discussion are the elite universities. There is no doubt in my mind that a large part of the reason for people to enrol in a MOOC is the chance to learn from the best in the field. So this must somehow be taken into account. But an interesting thought nevertheless, one that for once is not so much about money as it is about improving education and instilling a (European) civic identity. (@pbsloep)
No doubt we need a European perspective to savour the context of diversity we enjoy so much. So maybe this diversity will help us to overcome the idea that we need a European online university. There must be better ways to create a truly European dimension that will favour innovation and transformation in HE in a timely manner.
Extrait (trad libre):
"Les Moocs, solution de survie pour les petites universités, constituent une occasion unique pour créer une université véritablement européenne. Mais il faudra que cela soit différent et bien plus ambitieux qu'une simple version en ligne du programme Erasmus, et la slution devra être plus compleète que Coursera et Udacity."