Finance

The existence of virtual universities in the modern world and in the future is now a reality more than ever in the history of the world. During the invention of the internet, the rush to create websites by companies was referred to as a gold rush that would eventually fade away. That assumption has however been proved wrong as the world has become significantly computerized with all enterprise adopting use of customized computer generated software. This is a pointer to the fact that the evolution of the educational superhighway where learning can take place without limits of time and geography will continue becoming more common as technology improves.

The future for online education appears to be set for a complete revolution especially as the young people who were born in the technology age reaches the need to acquire higher education. There is however considerations that ought to be considered even as the online education goes top notch in the future. These include the need to assess the pedagogical principles associated with the emergence of online instruction and the virtual University. There is also the need to assess whether the virtual school is reliable, cost effective and sound. In addition, there is need to evaluate the skills that learners require and the skills and expertise that the virtual schools are going to offer. Another critical consideration is to analyze the ways through which virtual teachers can most effectively provide supportive, interactive and critical learning environment to the learners.

Managing the Virtual University
For the management of a virtual university to be effective, the management issues ought to be first laid down after which strategic management decisions would be adopted. Issues that ought to be considered in management includes the development of online programs that would effectively offer an on demand service, wide range of modules choices and real time interactions between instructors and learners. A prudent organization strategy would involve the establishment of several departments each assigned a specific role. For instance, there should be a department consisting of IT savvy faculty whose role would be to develop the instructional programs and post them in the universities web.

There should also be a department dealing with customer care whose role should be to handle all correspondence within the virtual university. In addition, an IT department would be established to ensure the effective control of internet facilities that would enable dispatch of information and teleconferencing between the lecturers and the learners. It is to be noted here that management practices practiced in the traditional universities would also require adherence. Such includes time observance by instructors and students, integration of professionalism in instruction and an emphasis on the development of quality instructional materials posted to the online learners. The advantages that could be associated with an effectively managed virtual university instructional programs includes

The provision of an on demand service-The most profound and visible effects of a virtual university is the elimination of geographical barriers and time constraints. Learning materials are easy to access since they can be downloaded anywhere in the expanse of the civilized globe. This implies that students can request materials for instruction and the faculty can relay necessary information in real time. There is also a fundamental change in learning emphasis and learning becomes more students centered. The need for a physical university which is clogged by geographical and time barriers is reduced as students become more focused on the learning experience rather than the learning location. The virtual universities have a great potential for becoming larger and virtual as the student body enlarges and diversifies. More people who were initially limited to access information and admission places can gain access to educational courses of their choice from any part of the world.

Reduction of construction costs-Since the virtual universities do not have limitation in time and space, the university can admit as many students as possible, almost without limit.  The University would reduce a focus on physical development as it invests more on funding the virtual education. This calls for institutions management to remain relevant in the coming age. It is highly likely that the near future will see massive investment in training on faculty members on expertise and skills required to conduct training via online programs.

Great Choice of modules-The virtual universities education is able to provide students with a wide range of choice on the modules that they consider taking. It is possible in the virtual universities to take consecutive modules offered from different institutions spread in different geographical locations at the same time. The success of virtual universities however depends on the institutions concerned attention on making sure that their enrolled students reach the minimum requirements and adhere to the set guidelines for graduation.

Improved and easy administration-The administration of virtual universities are improved in terms of their ability to monitor and conference with stakeholders and students online. This includes assessing students learning behavior as well as recording their choices, logging activity and interactions. The fact that materials can be processed online implies that the administration do not waste time with logistics and is therefore able to chat and conference with learners any time they need assistance.

Automated assessment-It is possible to generate online sophisticated grading systems that can test for plagiarism and other crucial functions of grading. For instance, questions requiring multiple choice answers can easily be assessed online and the report card processed immediately for the student. With technology, it is currently possible to have online generated tests with an automated grading system which can evaluate and grade students assignments and tests in very short time thereby revolutionizing the way grading has been traditionally done. This implies that the time that has traditionally been wasted on physical grading will be allocated and utilized for more meaningful tasks.
Improved faculty role-The virtual university presents the faculty with unlimited interaction with individual students. According to Pall off and Pratt the dividing line between the lecturers and the learners is progressively diminished in a virtual university as both of them become partner browsers in the cyberspace library. This effectively reduces the role of traditional teachers to less authoritarian practices.

Geographical Positioning of the Virtual University
It would be prudent to locate the headquarters of the virtual university within the geographical reach of the founders and brain behind it. The virtual university is highly technical skills dependent and is bound to experience shortcomings associated with technology programs. As such, having a good percentage of the technical skills within a common geographic zone would add value to the university. This is because the technical teams such as customer care, IT specialists and program developers can easily conference and suggest improvements when need arises. However, the virtual university can outsource labor in any part of the world and can therefore do so if the existing technical team in the ground can effectively coordinate instruction globally. Based on this, I would consider locating the headquarters in my home country.