Virtual Universities: Possible future of the higher education

In recent years there has been a phenomenal interest in the growth of what some are calling ‘digital’, ‘online’, or ‘virtual’ universities. Today, information and communication technologies are radically reconfiguring the landscape of higher education, and changing the very ‘nature’ of the university; now the vision is decrease the importance of the campus, so students ‘login’ from a distance to access ‘courseware’, new media technologies replacing traditional lectures, courses being delivered and assessed over the Internet, promising to make higher education available anywhere and at anytime. Virtual Education depicted as a solution to the increasingly demanding problems of higher education, all of this has fired the imagination of academics, policy makers, and educational specialists alike. One is the organizational dimension, as expressed in terms like organization other dimension refers to instructional media. It is well known that information and communication technologies provide a powerful incentive to standardization and as the technology grow, virtual education will become realistic as its technology brings sound, visuals and interactivity together and hence create a learning environment any where in the world. Virtual Universities will develop on education-on-demand system for delivering tele-courses to home personal computers. While each student would work independently, computer conferring, e-mail and voice mail access to a faculty or advisor would be available to answer questions, evaluate assignments and provide guidance.