ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Th is chapter examines the potential impact of online education on universities. Observation of operational strategies in some 30 universities in Europe and the United States suggests that rapid growth, pervasive spread among tertiary institutions, and an inherent adaptability in application, are among the more prominent features of the contemporary development of online education. Th is adaptability on the one hand, and the unique institutional context of application on the other, are refl ected in a diversity of institutional strategies. Th e chapter reviews some current evidence with respect to the impact of online education on the university, with particular reference to the impact on pedagogy, on resource allocation, on staff , and on various aspects of institutional strategies. It is concluded that the diverse strategies adopted by universities refl ect, rather than infl uence, institutional ethos, and that by virtue of its capacity to adapt to diff erent contexts, online education may be more malleable-and so less threatening-to traditional values and academic mores, than some observers fear.
