8th October 2001

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The University of Ulster will today launch Campus One, a revolutionary new route to learning via the world wide web.

Campus One, a 'University at Your Fingertips', will provide an online portal through which all of the University of Ulster’s e-learning courses will be available worldwide.

The virtual campus will incorporate existing e-learning courses with new post and undergraduate programmes, all of which can be accessed and completed via Campus One from anywhere in the world.

Campus One is the first e-learning network of its kind in the UK and Ireland, and has been developed in association with academic partners in the USA and Hong Kong, ensuring its e-learning programmes have global reach and relevance.

In charge of the Campus One project is Dr Clive Mulholland, Director of the University of Ulster’s Institute for Lifelong Learning:

"The University of Ulster is at the forefront of developments in e-learning. Campus One will be our fifth campus - a campus without geographical constraints.

"Campus One is a natural development and extension of our highly successful e-learning pilot programmes in biomedical sciences and nursing education. Through our strategic partnerships in the UK, US, and the Far East, Campus One will be a leading global provider of high quality e-learning.

"Campus One is 'a university at your fingertips, and will be available 24/7 on a global basis."

And it is not just the academic aspects of university life that Campus One has on offer. All of the university’s student support services will also be accessible for online students, making the e-learning student experience comparable if not identical to conventional learning.

Students and staff will have personalised online access to course material, learning resources including libraries, academic and student support programmes, the counselling service and careers guidance.

Campus One students will also be asked to take part in an online induction package several weeks before the term begins, introducing them to the technology and advising them on learning and time management skills.

Speaking at the launch of Campus One, Professor Gerry McKenna, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ulster, said:

"Campus One is a ground breaking development whose time has come. It employs multimedia communications technologies and time-honoured teaching principles to deliver effective, flexible and interactive education at a time and place to suit the participant.

"The new knowledge society and knowledge economy bring changing occupational patterns and learning needs. Many of the emerging professions require people to replenish their knowledge and renew their skills on a regular basis – the core of lifelong learning itself.

" We are on the road to universal participation in higher education: barriers of social class gender, age disability, location or ethnicity must not stand in the way of each individual’s right to the unique personal and occupations privileges that higher education confers.

"Campus One will be the vehicle through which we will deliver our provision and compete in what will become the global classroom."

Professor Alison Kitson, Director of the Royal College of Nursing Institute, welcomed the development:

"This is an exciting development for the RCN on several counts. We are harnessing technology to increase nurses’ access to lifelong learning. We want to shape a system that will recognise and give credit to nurses’ own skills and experience of patient care. E-education will offer nurses the chance to learn when and where it suits them, allowing them to combine studying with their professional and personal lives."

More information on Campus One.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk