Outdistanced?

New England Journal of Higher Education, The, Summer 1998

The number of institutions participating in the Southern Regional Education Board's Southern Regional Electronic Campus will rise to 150 this fall, up from 40.

The distance learning consortium, including public institutions in 15 states, plans to offer more than 1,000 courses and 25 degree programs online and through television. The consortium also plans to add private colleges to its membership.

Meanwhile, Western Governors University has its first non-Western member. In the spring, Indiana joined the consortium, which provides competency-based degree programs drawing on courses offered by colleges, businesses and other providers.

New England-with its shorter travel times to physical campuses-has yet to devise any such regional effort. But state-level initiatives are gaining strength. In Connecticut, the Legislature granted $200,000 to support a distance learning consortium involving 25 public and private colleges. And 19 public institutions in Massachusetts are collaborating on honors courses using the Internet and other technologies.