Distance Education in Danish Universities of Applied Science

Over the last five years, the structures within Danish higher education (HE) have changed radically. Seven universities of applied science (UAS) cover the educational programs, which 120 independent institutions took care of before 2007. In all the new UAS, all graduate and postgraduate programs are delivered in a combination of face-to-face and web-based learning.

Some programs are designated as Distance Education (DE) which primarily means that the combination of face-to-face and web-learning differs from the traditional on-campus programs. The students have to meet on-campus during week-end instead of on week-days.

At UCL as well as the other five of the other UAS, there are only few fully-on-line-programs. So, DE is in context of Danish HE primarily used as a term for programs with other structures and interactions than the majority of programs. One of the exceptions is found at University College Sjaelland where a fully-on-line program for social workers has been delivered since 2009.

In the region, in which UCL is located there are remote areas and it is problematic to attract young men to higher education. Increased use of DE could be an important part of a solution to the challenges. However, it will require coherent strategic choices and concrete actions from the leaders in the organizations in the region.

Effectively identifying the need to change goes to the very heart of leadership. (McRoy & Gibbs, 2009 p.692)

They have the point that in complex and turbulent contexts it is important that the leader can decide what is not to be changed.

References
McRoy, I. and Gibbs, P. (2009) Leading change in higher education Management Administration & Leadership, 37 p. 687-704