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Getting China Money for Online Ed at UC?

Byuclafaculty

UC investing millions in new cyber studies program

Nanette Asimov, San Francisco Chronicle, September 12, 2011

The University of California will unveil its first top-tier cyber courses in January – 26 online offerings, from global climate change to game theory. At the same time, it’s eyeing China and even American soldiers as potential sources of cash to pay for them…

Economically, the online venture is equally experimental. Its most vigorous proponent, UC Berkeley Law School Dean Christopher Edley, expected to raise $6 million for the pilot program, but attracted just $748,000 in private funds. Rather than abandon the effort, UC gave it a $6.9 million interest-free line of credit. The plan is to repay the loan by selling at least 7,000 spots in online classes to about 5,000 non-UC students – perhaps in China…

“This is a scandal of obscene proportions” at a time when UC is laying off employees, raising tuition and bracing for more cuts in state support, political science Professor Wendy Brown wrote to the UC Berkeley Faculty Association, which she co-chairs. Her memo drew praise from colleagues.

Later, Brown also wondered why non-UC students would pay UC prices for online classes when so many are available for free – including from MIT, Harvard, Stanford and even UC Berkeley through iTunes…

Full story at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2011/09/12/MNMJ1L11DT.DTL

Of course, getting to all that China money may take awhile:

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