HONGKONG-based OnLine Education plans to work with Glasgow's University of Paisley to provide an ''electronic university'' in Hongkong. OnLine Education, a multi-million dollar company that is part of the OnLine group of companies, specialises in research and development, especially in computing and computer graphics. The new company has been formed to offer Hongkong executives and professionals work-related higher-education courses using the latest computer technology. Four courses will be launched in October - postgraduate diploma and Master of Science programmes in quality management and computer-aided engineering. More courses will be introduced in March next year, with a target of 24 courses within the next 18 months. The post-graduate diploma courses will cost US$8,000 each, and the Master of Science programmes will be offered at $10,000. For this fee, students will receive a printer, modem and fax, and a computer pre-programmed with the material necessary for the course. All hardware and software is retained by the student when the course ends. Students will enrol for University of Paisley courses, and will get their degrees direct from the university. All teaching will be based in Hongkong, with students and tutors communicating through an ''electronic campus'', with a central communications centre linking tutors to course leaders at Paisley. The computer network will give students access to reading lists, allow them to leave assignments for their tutors for assessment and allow them to confer with colleagues 24 hours a day. Seminars can be organised through a teleconferencing system, and tutors and students will be able to communicate directly. To protect against cheating, students will be required to attend final examinations in person. However, the system offers great flexibility on completion of preparatory work. OnLine Education operations manager Graham Warburton said the flexibility of the courses would be emphasised during marketing, with students being offered the convenience of not wasting time travelling and being able to do assignments whenever it suited them. The tutors are mostly working professionals in Hongkong, selected by OnLine Education. University of Paisley's vice-principal, Professor William Stevely, said systems such as the ''electronic university'' were becoming more and more necessary in order to meet the increasing demands for higher education.
