Children have returned to classrooms up and down the country, much to parents’ relief, but older siblings studying at universities in the UK are still likely to be hunched over a laptop at home. Learning online is the new norm for higher education, begging the question of whether universities ever need to return to campus.
“Where distance learning was a small part of every university’s portfolio, it’s become front and centre,” says Claire Taylor of SUMS Consulting, which is based at the University of Reading. She points out that compared to the Open University, which marks its 50th anniversary this year, the move to remote learning is a forced pivot, rather than a choice, but this does not mean it hasn’t been beneficial.
For students, who might be put off by the high cost of tuition and accommodation, the ability to learn from home without having to worry about studying in a strange city is a massive relief.