News Update from Campus Technology for Tuesday, November 16, 2004

• 11/15/04

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News for Tuesday, November 16, 2004

* Online Higher Ed Growth Accelerating, Says Sloan Study
* Stanford to Offer Online MS in Mechanical Engineering
* Venture Capitalist Gives $22M to USC Engineering School
* McGraw-Hill Releases First Online Test for Adult Education
* International Edu Week to Fight Declining Foreign Enrollment
* Cowan U. Launches First Wireless Mesh Net in Australia
* World’s Fastest Supercomputers Ranked

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Sloan: Online Higher Ed Enters Mainstream: Growth Accelerates

The growth rate of online learning in higher education continues to skyrocket.
That’s the conclusion of a comprehensive survey of 1,100 U.S. colleges and universities
by the Sloan Center for Online Education for the Alfred Sloan Foundation and Babson
Colleges.

The expected average growth rate for online students for 2004 is 24.8 per cent, up
from 19.8 percent in 2003, according to the study. The majority of all schools—53.6
percent—agree that online education is critical to their long-term strategy. Among
public and private for-profit institutions almost two-thirds agree.

"There are 2.6 million students learning online this semester and there is no
evidence enrollment has reached a plateau," said Sloan Consortium CIO Jeff Seaman.
Frank Mayadas, president of the Sloan Consortium, said the results show "online
learning is indeed entering the mainstream," and that “ schools offering online
courses believe their online students are at least as satisfied as those actually
in the classroom.”

University of Central Florida President John Hitt told the researchers, “today's
students are comfortable learning and communicating online, and we can increase our
enrollment and diversity without burdening our already crowded classroom schedule."

For more information, visit: http://www.sloan-c.org/resources/survey.asp

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Stanford to Offer Online MS in Mechanical Engineering

Stanford University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering said it will offer an
online master of science in mechanical engineering degree beginning in Autumn 2005.
The school is targeting technology professionals. Frederich B. Prinz, chairman of
the ME department said the move ”represents an important step in our mission to
educate tomorrow's engineering leaders in industry as well as in academic research."
All online courses will be taught by Stanford faculty and delivered by the Stanford
Center for Professional Development (SCPD).

Successful applicants will be allowed to pursue a master's degree entirely at a
distance in the areas of automatic controls, design for manufacturability, design
methodology, and solid mechanics. Controls courses and solid mechanics. The offering
brings to 22 the number of online Master of Science degree concentrations offered
by Stanford.

For more information, visit: http://scpd.stanford.edu

Venture Capitalist Gives $22M to USC Engineering School

Venture capitalist Mark Stevens made a gift of $22 million to the University of
Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering to create an institute to
commercialize faculty technology projects and to teach students about the
commercialization process.

USC President Steven B. Sample, an electrical engineer himself, said the gift had
“the potential to transform this university.” He said it would speed efforts to
“turn laboratory research into marketplace reality,” as well as “attract and retain
the best professors and educate the best students.”

Stevens, 44, grew up in Culver City, Calif. He earned a BS degree in electrical
engineering, a BA in economics and an MS in computer engineering at USC, and an MBA
from Harvard. At Sequoia Captial, he focuses on semiconductor, software and
systems-related investments, and has been a perennial on Forbes magazine Midas List
of top 100 venture capitalists rising as high as 10.

CTB/McGraw-Hill Releases First Online Test for Adult Education

CTB/McGraw-Hill, a provider of education assessment systems, released an online
version of its Tests for Adult Basic Education (TABE), a widely used adult education
assessment tool. The instrument measures skills in reading, language arts, and
mathematics. The company, which provides test results for 4 million adult students
nationally, said it is now the only adult basic skills assessment available online.

International Education Week to Fight Declining Foreign Enrollments

While applications by American students to study abroad increased 42 percent following
9/11, enrollment in American universities by foreign students has steadily declined,
according to the Institute of International Education. The Council of Graduate
Schools cites an 18 percent decrease in admissions of foreign graduate students
since last year. To help reverse the trend, the Department of State and the
Department of Education are sponsoring International Education Week this week
(Nov. 15-19).

Mark Shay, chief executive officer of StudyAbroad.com, which promotes international
education, said reforms are necessary to forge a more culturally aware and tolerant
world. Shay said he hopes StudyAbroad.com website can stimulate the study abroad
market. "The creation of more, not less, global awareness is necessary," he said.
"Knowledge and experience are vital in gaining and promoting international
understanding. Studying abroad introduces a new environment through which knowledge
can be gained in a real-time setting. These experiences prepare individuals to
thrive in a global community."

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Edith Cowan U. Launches First Wireless Mesh Net in Australia

Edith Cowan University plans to roll out before the end of the year Australia's
first wireless mesh network-using technology that integrates wireless and local
area networks. The new hybrid network will give staff and students seamless wireless
access to applications and resources from any campus location, indoors and outdoors.

The network will be provided by Nortel Inc., and will cover four campuses, including
168 buildings. “We've been looking for ways to extend the wireless network coverage
on our campuses while keeping costs to a minimum," said Jeff Murray, IT manager,
Edith Cowan University. "We've determined that up to 70 per cent of mobile calls
are from a campus base station to a campus phone," Murray said. "Future capabilities
of the wireless mesh network can make this service available to all students and
staff and can save AU$300,000, which means the new network will basically pay for
itself." The mesh network will enable the university to maintain its existing LAN
infrastructure and reduce the number of wireless access points required in order to
expand wireless coverage.

World’s Fastest Supercomputers Ranked

The newest list of the world’s fastest 500 supercomputers was announced lat week at
the Supercomputing 2004 Conference in Pittsburgh. IBM’s Blue Gene/L beta-System
being developed for the Department of Energy took the number one spot, with a
Linpack benchmark performance of 70.72 TeraFLOPS. In second place was Columbia, a
system developed by SGI for the NASA Ames Research Center. The Earth Simulator,
built by NEC for the Earth Simulator in Japan, was second runner up. Columbia and
Earth Simulator benchmarked at 51.87 and 35.86 TeraFLOPS, respectively.

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