ABSTRACT
Change is the name ofthe game in contemporary universities. At the top ofthe priority list for university managers, and the strategic planners who advise them, is the quest to address the challenges and prospects ofglobalization. As we recognized in our introductory chapter, many universities have responded strategically by embarking on reforms to their systems ofteaching and learning, which are described, in an admixture of marketing hype and technical accuracy, as the virtual university. Students, a bare majority ofwhom remain full-time and attend classes on-campus, are reminded that the electronic university is about to emerge. Increasing numbers of beginning undergraduates arrive, 'notebook' in hand, fresh from a well-resourced secondary school that has made computer-based learning the basis of its programmes. University staff in many and various countries are reminded, some may say threatened, that they will soon be competing for students with the Cornells, Harvards and Oxbridges of the world who will offer their courses virtually and on a global basis (Cunningham et aI, 1997: 37-105,169-97).
