University Of California Announces Online Degrees Distance Learning

The academic world is still buzzing with talk from University of California's announcement last July that they may start offering courses through online degrees distance learning. According to UC, they will be offering 25 to 40 of their most populated courses online. They stressed that these courses will follow the same strict quality education that they give on campus.

The announcement of UC's plan to offer full bachelor's degrees through online degrees distance learning caught the academic community quite off guard. Different camps gave varied reactions although most were positive. Some say that a prestigious university like UC should venture into such a project because online degrees distance learning will provide the university's high standards to students across the United States. Similarly, others say they are in favor of a cyber UC, as this would make quality education more affordable to students.

Christopher Edley, dean of UC Berkeley Law School, heads the project and is backed by strong support from the board of regents. According to Edley, offering online degrees distance learning at UC will open opportunities for students from other States and even other countries to enroll at UC. The university is among the top schools in the world and admits only the top one-eighth of high school graduates in the US.

Edley further adds that online degrees distance learning at UC will help cut costs. This is good news indeed, as the university has been largely affected by the US economic crisis. At present, the school faces a budget deficit that can reach $1.2 billion in the coming year. Because of this budget deficit, the university had to come up with measures to cut operation costs, such as reducing supplies, taking out late library hours, increasing some fees, and, unfortunately, letting employees go. In 2009, a student protest erupted in the campus, blocking some buildings and parking lots, because of a 32% student fee increase. Adopting online degrees distance learning for full bachelor's degree programs will help ease the university's budget deficit problems and provide opportunities for thousands of students.
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Although some professors are not agreeable to the idea of a cyber UC, many education experts say the time is right for the university to offer bachelor's degrees through online degrees distance learning. According to Sean O'Donnell from the Villanova University College of Engineering, Pennsylvania, online degrees distance learning, if done correctly, are a very effective tool to provide quality education. As night school programs become less popular, working students are shifting to online education to obtain their bachelor's degrees because it gives more flexibility in their schedules.

Online degrees distance learning have come a long way in the last ten years. Stanford University gives an example of successful online education through its high-quality graduate degree program in engineering that is being offered online to students from all over the world. The senior associate dean at Stanford's School of Engineering says their online graduate program holds the same quality as their campus-based program.

Whether or not the academic world is ready for a cyber UC, one thing is sure, online degrees distance learning are gaining more and more acceptance. It breaks distance barriers and makes quality education available to students from different time zones. Online degrees distance learning also helps students obtain their degrees for a lot less.