Education and healthcare represent leading concerns in the UK, Europe, America, Australia and in modern nations around the world. In both online and resident markets, every generation wants not only their own education to better compete in the marketplace but also access to better education for their children and grandchildren. The market statistics bear these facts out and point to online education as a major emerging market. The potential earnings from online delivery of education are enormous. CNN puts the worldwide market for just one segment of it, adult education, at over £250 billion annually.
Students in India, Southeast Asia, China and elsewhere compete to earn access to US and UK degrees which are highly desirable and prestigious but are often considerably more expensive than overseas universities when the tuition and accommodation costs are combined. Online graduate degree programs offer a significant savings for international students desiring a UK university postgraduate degree. The savings amount to many thousands of pounds in student fees, accommodation costs and yearly travel costs as compared to resident programs. These are highly significant factors in increasingly competitive higher education markets. In India, Southeast Asia, and elsewhere, UK degrees often make the difference between employment and unemployment. International students represent potentially vast, ongoing markets for distance learning and online higher education.
Summer Residency
International students admitted to a partnering UK university have the opportunity to take their entire degrees online. These international student groups are also often offered a shorter summer residency component and always have the opportunity to attend their graduation ceremonies with graduating on-campus students. Summer programs may be one or two weeks long or longer as needed by a particular degree program.
The summer residency component allows graduate students to experience a final academic term or summer program in residency. This also provides an opportunity for student families to be present in person for their relative’s graduation. An initial in-person orientation session may also be offered at the beginning of an international students online graduate program in order to meet faculty and peers and to go through an orientation to online learning and to their particular program.