Certain UK universities have initiated an online project in collaboration, which intends to provide the public access to higher educational courses through computers, smartphones or tablets. The online higher educational project, launched by the UK universities, plans to challenge the US universities that have dominated this emerging online higher education market.

The UK universities will present online higher education courses from 2013. The UK universities’ online higher educational project will symbolise the largest UK response to rapidly increasing online universities. These universities intend to offer higher educational courses via a shared online platform, FutureLearn.

As per the Universities Minister, David Willetts, the UK universities can revolutionise traditional models of formal education with their online higher educational project.

Among the UK universities, who are collaborating for this online higher educational project, are Birmingham, Open University, Bristol, Exeter, St. Andrews, East Anglia, Warwick, King’s College London, Lancaster, Southampton, Cardiff and Leeds.

Individual universities will have to ascertain how the students in such online higher educational courses will be accredited and tested. As such, there aren’t formal admission necessities for students, intending to join such online higher educational courses.

University of Southampton Vice-Chancellor, Don Nutbeam, has voiced that his university’s entry into this online higher educational project would help to construct the university as an international brand.

Martin Bean, the Open University’s Vice-Chancellor, has asserted that the emergence of online higher educational courses signified that the UK universities could either continue to dwell in the past models of education or adapt to the challenge of internet/online education.

Don Nutbeam has proclaimed that the University of Southampton would present about 15 to 20 self-contained modules, which could be the foundation stones for the students to join other courses.

FutureLearn is a new company, which is being established to administer this online higher educational project, which will be majority-owned by the Open University. The universities will decide the content, quality, fees and accreditation of the offered online courses.