EXCLUSIVE: University proposes online-only degrees as part of radical restructuring
By Jack Taylor and Tom Mitchell
Durham University is proposing online-only degrees as part of a radical restructuring process, Palatinate can reveal.
Confidential documents seen by Palatinate show that the University is planning “a radical restructure” of the Durham curriculum in order to permanently put online resources at the core of its educational offer, in response to the Covid-19 crisis and other ongoing changes in both national and international Higher Education.
The proposals seek to “invert Durham’s traditional educational model”, which revolves around residential study, replacing it with one that puts “online resources at the core enabling us to provide education at a distance.”
The proposals seek to “invert Durham’s traditional education model”
The proposals were authored by Deputy Vice-Chancellor Antony Long and Vice-Provost (Education) Alan Houston in a report titled “Redesigning Durham’s Educational Offer”. An audit of the University’s digital content, undertaken due to the Covid-19 crisis, found that Durham has so far been slow to develop an online educational offer compared to its competitors. The proposals “require a new design to the Durham University curriculum” in order that all degree programmes can be fully-accessible remotely.
It is considered that under the proposals some students would just use online resources, some would study full-time in Durham and others a mixture of both. The planned starting point is that for the 2020/21 academic year, all of Durham’s current educational offer will be available online alongside the existing residential degrees.
Under the proposals, some students would just use online resources
The University wants all modules for 2020-21 to conform to a “Minimum Viable Product” by June, in readiness for the start of 2020-21 academic year. Under the proposals, the number of “live” modules taught next academic year will be reduced by 25%, bringing the number taught at Durham to around 1200. It is hoped that by October 2020 the University will have its key postgraduate and first year undergraduate programmes online, weighted by “international market potential”.
The University wants further roll-out of online modules beyond next academic year and the Covid-19 crisis. Overall, the aim is that there will be at least 500 modules fully online by the end of the 2020/21 academic year, with an agreed further roll-out in 2021/22.
A further element to the plan is flexible start dates, so students can start their degree programmes in October, January or April in order to better align with other international Higher Education partners.
A further element to the plan is flexible start dates, so students can start their degree programmes in October, January or April
The plans have so far been developed without consultation of staff or students, although it is understood that market research of students is a priority. However, details of the proposals have been leaked to staff, who have identified a number of perceived issues.
A letter to Vice-Chancellor Stuart Corbridge, expressing concern with the proposal, has over 300 signatures from academic staff. It says: “We find the far-reaching changes proposed in the document to be highly concerning. Given the scope and impact of the changes, we are also concerned by the timetable for their ratification, which does not allow for any meaningful consultation, market analysis, or risk assessment.
A letter to Vice-Chancellor Stuart Corbridge, expressing concern with the proposal, has over 300 signatures from academic staff
The letter continues: “In some cases, entire pathways within departments will be placed under existential threat, e.g. the performance pathway in the music department, which is central to the department’s undergraduate offering.
“The document contains no discussion of the pedagogical objectives or effects of the changes. Pedagogical, as well as financial, imperatives must surely be at the heart of any changes to Durham’s teaching model.
“We are not opposing contingency measures, which are a necessary component of immediate term planning in the current crisis. The proposal to make permanent changes to the curriculum in the midst of a global health crisis is, however, both cynical and reckless.”
DUCU passed a motion to call for “abandoning any radical restructure of the University in the midst of a pandemic”.
The Durham branch of the University and College Union (DUCU) held an Emergency General Meeting (EGM) to establish a response to the proposals.
In a statement to Palatinate, DUCU said: “Durham UCU is deeply concerned about the proposals circulated in the ‘Durham Redesign’ documents. Today we held an Emergency General Meeting with over 180 members in attendance which voted to firmly oppose rushed long-term changes taken without proper consultation.
“To date, there has been no consultation with DUCU about the proposals. We support online learning as part of the response to the covid-19 crisis but the approach currently being floated is for a permanent change, and one that will not benefit staff or students.
“Our concerns include the implications for degree programmes of a 25% reduction in modules for next year and how this will affect staff and students. UCU is opposed to any outsourcing of the delivery or planning of teaching and learning, and we are thus also concerned about the involvement of a private education company to roll out some of these proposals.”
A meeting of the Senate, the University’s supreme governing body, had been planned to meet earlier today (15th April). Palatinate understands that this meeting has been instead delayed to allow more time for those present to read and understand the proposals. Senate will now meet to discuss and vote on the proposals next week.
In a statement to Palatinate, Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost Antony Long said: “We want to ensure we can continue to deliver highest possible quality of educational offer for both current and future students within a strong collegiate and academic community.
“None of us yet know what the 2020/21 academic year will look like, but we must plan now so that when we do, we have options properly developed and ready to implement for our current and future students.
“Our focus is as ever on the quality of the Durham educational offer. If you choose to study at Durham, in Durham itself, from a distance or perhaps in combination, you will get a world-class experience.
“Anticipating that some and perhaps a significant number of students will not be able to travel to and live in Durham in 2020/21, we are preparing an online, distance learning programme that is both inclusive and high-quality. We already deliver highly successful online programmes such as our Online MBA, which is ranked in the top ten in the world.
“We are extremely grateful for how our staff have responded to the Covid-19 crisis and we welcome their input, as well as that from trade union and student representatives, as we seek to take these proposals forward.”
Image by Maddie Flisher
I’m a Durham alumni from Van Mildert and the History department. I want to say that if Durham History went to predominately online courses as part of the degree of would ruin the best thing about that program. Which was the face to face contact time, the collaborative time spent with peers, and the academic intimacy.
I got so much out of the seminars and the collaborative contact time. My degree would have been almost completely worthless without it, and I definitely wouldn’t have taken the degree if it was online.
Well done Palatinate for revealing this. I found the most revealing, and most disturbing line of your reportage to be this:
‘The document contains no discussion of the pedagogical objectives or effects of the changes.
Teaching and learning have been subsumed once more to markets and mediocrity, but what else could possibly happen if we commodified a social necessity like education? Most HE leaders mindlessly rolled over when every government since 1979 undermined and transformed HE into a market concept and this is Durham’s ‘leadership’ taking it to its (il)logical conclusion. Online can be made cheaply. Having virtual provision side-by-side with live service is only a step towards the total eradication and automation of HE.
We have been warned. Over and over again.
University exploiting this crisis.What a surprise it’s Durham first out if the starting block.
Vote with your feet and take your money elsewhere
Durham’s proposed new “Shape Your Future” statement:
“Whether it’s through Zoom or Microsoft Teams, just pay us the international fees to discover a sanitised, impersonal student experience that somewhat facilitates you becoming the person you want to be”.
Universities across the globe are in panic as they will be losing out on income from international students. It is no surprise Durham is one of the first to try spin this pitch of online learning as a new, flexible option to maintain their revenue.
This is just the start further exploitation of HE educators and students for the sake of profit.
Universities don’t make a profit. Maybe it’s about maintaining the revenue they need to pay their educators salaries?
You may wish to look at the University’s accounts as they certainly do make a profit – and usually a very healthy one at that over the past decade!!
If you look at corporate education providers such as BPP who provide many of their courses via an online platform you will see there are very few staff members as the ‘content creators’ are contractors who once they have recorded their course are no longer needed. In the long run this is less about paying their educators’ salaries and more about the commercialisation of higher education of which Durham has a long track record of,
* Centralising college functions and on many occasions threatening the existence of colleges
* Excessive increase in student rent and use of RPI as inflationary increase (note the National Statistics Office abandoned the use of RPI as an inflation metric a while back)
* 9 month contracts for teaching fellows (only stopped due to student pressure)
* Recording of lectures
* Removal of senior tutors and other welfare functions from colleges
*Issuance of commercial bonds to investors totalling over £200m
* Joint venture with corporate student accommodation providers to build and run new colleges
Call me a cynic but I greatly suspect that there is far more to this than wanting to pay staff salaries…only time will tell who is right and I very much hope it is you Mike
I would love to see HE opened up to all, for free, or low cost. Perhaps we would need to have a new qualification catogery, virtual cannot replace residential. But imagine a world where world class rescources are available to all.
The OU was an attempt, but has priced itself out of the grasp of those it could have served.
HE accessible to all. World class, wonderful. I am just surprised it has taken this long. The OU in my view is over priced with a narrow range of courses, so fails it’s intended audience.
Making quality education affordable is a gift to humanity.
This is about survival, the redundancies come later.
So the university looks to outsource its offer again, as it did with its foundation degree. Why not just buy up some internet companies and call them “Durham University”? Completely misses the point of going to university.
I think this is a very cynical and move to normalise teaching under a crisis in the hope to expand a customer base. The rate with which this is to happen and that there is no mention of planned staff training, increased funding, or even provision of pedagogic agendas is eventually also self-defeating in that it is bound to turn university education into a degree sale while lowering the overall quality for everybody involved.
Given the unbelievable increase in costs for tuition and residence on site in recent years, possibilities for offsite courses might look appealing at first, yet it takes years, quite some money, and a lot of didactic thought in order to design meaningful online learning. Conducting online classes properly easily triples the amount of work required from teaching staff (it seems that the report makes no mention of hiring new staff or reducing teaching hours per person), not to mention that it disadvantages many learners. With the plans as apparently outlined, I think there is a very great danger of individualising problems and possible solutions entailed in this rather than addressing structural problems (universities as degree factories).
Durham’s management evidently has not the slightest idea how complex and expensive it is to set up high-quality distance learning programmes.
If palatinate announced that the vc and his executive team are going to run round the campus naked no one would be surprised that is where we are at more bonkers ideas from people who are so detached from the rest of planet earth
Although it has mentioned that “Our focus is as ever on the quality of the Durham educational offer. If you choose to study at Durham, in Durham itself, from a distance or perhaps in combination, you will get a world-class experience.”, second and latter are just not the same.
If they offer students a 100% online degree, they better reduce both international and local tuition fees. No way I gonna pay £17k (int fee) to sit in front of my laptop a couple of hours per week. Especially for science and engineering students who require practical lab sessions, online classes just won’t work the best for them.
More importantly, Uni life isn’t just about academic learning, but also the social interaction of meeting different people from around the country or even oversea, and creating fun memories together. Eg Formals, Balls, Team Durham, College Sports,
Fortunately, it’s my final year next year, so it won’t affect me much. I feel it’s a pity for future Durham students.
Although it has mentioned that “Our focus is as ever on the quality of the Durham educational offer. If you choose to study at Durham, in Durham itself, from a distance or perhaps in combination, you will get a world-class experience.”, second and latter are just not the same.
If they offer students a 100% online degree, they better reduce both international and local tuition fees. No way I gonna pay £17k (int fee) to sit in front of my laptop a couple of hours per week. Especially for science and engineering students who require practical lab sessions, online classes just won’t work the best for them.
More importantly, Uni life isn’t just about academic learning, but also the social interaction of meeting different people from around the country or even oversea, and creating fun memories together. Eg Formals, Balls, Team Durham, College Sports,
Fortunately, it’s my final year next year, so it won’t affect me much. I feel it’s a pity for future Durham students.
If they are hoping to interest international students in paying for on-line classes, based on my experience of Chinese students specifically I would say ‘forget it’. Chinese students and parents want a high-quality product, plenty of personal interaction, and the whole in-person ‘university experience, ‘ and they are prepared to pay very good money to get it. As for on-line education, if they want it (which they mostly don’t), they can get it much more cheaply and conveniently, and in their own language, at home.
The University is simply attempting to ensure that students receive an education in unprecedented times.
Conspiracy theories may abound, but the university have an obligation to try and continue their educational offer to students, even if they cannot arrive at/return to Durham in October.
I am amazed at the amount of hot air that has been blown up about this document – when it is clearly simply an attempt to plan for the unthinkable circumstances in which the world finds itself.
If anyone out there can see into the future and tell the university what will be happening in October, I am sure the university would be grateful to hear, in the meantime, they have to plan for the unknown. Very sensible to do so in my opinion.
I hope that whoever chose to leak a confidential, internal document and then comment on it in this scaremongering way is proud of creating a lot of unnecessary anxiety for the student body at a difficult time.
It’s using a crisis to make a permanent change affecting all future years to come. Last weekend, the observer comprehensively dismissed advice from group behind these changes. Its deeply worrying that university so naive to have blindly accepted whatever advice given with no plan b and no consultation with staff or DSU. The only way considered was an unworkable idea from a group who dont appear to have much experience. The damage to our reputation from these mistakes is considerable
I disagree entirely. It is irresponsible to believe that a university should not plan for what happens next – for the sake of both students and staff. There was no suggestion of a permanent change to online. That was a fabrication. There was a suggestion that in a few, small areas, consideration was given to some diversification, which would have had the impact of widening participation in Durham’s educational offer ( a laudable aim in my view) and also in terms of diversifying income and dependence on international student fees. Prompt action would also have allowed for a measured approach to the potential need for online tuition in October in a quality way, without stressing staff, due to the opportunity to plan for this in a measured way. As it is the university will now potentially be running sub- standard online course for students who cannot return in October – and staff will be pressurized you prepare for these in a much shorter, and more stressful timeline. I do not see that as a good result for students or staff.
“Durham alumnus” is being naive if they think that the University management does not intend to let the present crisis go to waste, in the matter of tilting the scales in favour of managerial objectives instead of educational ones.
It is characteristic of the amateurish bullies who infest the administration of modern education that they apparently intend to do so in a way that is short-sighted and counter-productive even from the point of view their own interests.
As more than five decades of experience at The Open University conclusively demonstrates, high-quality distance learning involves lengthy and expensive preparation involving investment on a scale that is exactly prohibited by the crisis facing Durham and other universities.
Moreover, its very nature makes it supremely scalable, and there is no very obvious scope for multiple providers—and in so far as this exists, it does not include ad hoc attempts on the part of panicky managers focussed on cutting costs.
Julian – I am sorry, but it is all scaremongering. There was NEVER an announcement that Durham was giving up residential and going online. There was an announcement that Durham was doing two sensible things to prevent students losing their right to an education, in unprecedented times and also to ensure that the university could hold on to its highly skilled and precious staff – whether academic or support staff. All universities will be making the same contingency plans. Why not praise the university for:
1. Being proactive in aiming to do the Above, rather than face ruin – I am sure the ‘knives would have been out’ later down the line if the university had failed.
2. not making non tenure track staff redundant – as has happened at other institutions – such as Newcastle and Bristol.
3. Not asking staff to take immediate pay cuts – see Imperial and Manchester as examples.
This report is poor journalism – there was never an attempt to take the university online at the expense of a residential offer. It is a conspiracy theory borne of a lack of trust in management/scaremongering .
I am sad that the failure to see that universities have a responsibility for outreach, beyond their privileged communities is also an educational mission. There was much to praise in the aim of widening participation for those not lucky enough to be able to afford the Durham educationAl offer, which is expensive and elitist. And the aim of reducing the global impact of travel by international students.
If we ignore the scurrilous and inaccurate headline of this article and look at it as crisis planning – and sensible planning, at that – we might be a bit kinder to the hard pressed management of this university – and see this initiative as it should be seen – an attempt to safeguard the future of the university.