Here's a link to an interesting article in the Guardian (UK) a few weeks ago: Universities should resist e-imperialism. This article was written by Peter Scott, Vice-Chancellor (equivalent to university President in U.S. terminology) of Kingston University. So it's interesting that he says that the traditional universities may not be the most appropriate providers of distance education. He notes that, as a result of historical contingency, universities currently fill multiple roles: teaching and research; liberal (general) education and professional preparation. But there's no inherent reason why one institution (or one type of institution) should do everything. Uncontroversial stuff for this forum, but interesting to have this come from the head of a large traditional institution.