RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — University of California students in Riverside and Irvine will soon have the ability to take online courses offered by other campuses within the system.
With increasing cost pressures in traditional forms of education at all UC campuses, Gov. Jerry Brown has criticized UC for being slow to adopt online education.
“We can build the most fabulous buildings, we can have the teachers, professors,” Brown said. “But if other people come along and offer the same or better when they want it, you’re going to find there’s pressure out there.”
With $10 million approved for this experimental cross-campus system of enrollment, students at four UC campuses will be able to attend Internet-available classes offered by another UC campus, starting with the winter quarter.
“What takes place in a classroom? Are there equally fine alternatives that are so much cheaper and so much more available and so much more consistent? I’m not going to play cat and mouse, I believe that to be the case,” Brown said.
If successful, the new cross-campus enrollment system will be expanded throughout the entire University of California system.
