Internet Learning Volume 4, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 79

Internet Learning Journal – Volume 4, Issue 1 – Spring 2015 Europe, but partnerships all over the world. The connection to the Millennium goals approved by the United Nations (UN) is also made explicit. The eighth goal of the Horizon 2020 is the establishment of a global partnership for development (EC, 2011, p. 11), which focuses on the interaction between research and education. It is in the EU’s goal of having a global reach in research and education that online teaching has its highest potential of being highly efficient because of online teaching’s capacity for operating at a global scale and low cost through the use of the available digital networks. For the last 30 years, the EU has made universal access to education a priority; however, with the modified goal of establishing excellence-based interactions in society, it is being realized that mass education has not guaranteed an equality of job access for everyone. On the contrary, given the differing quality of teaching institutions, the different access to universitary formation has led to social inequality. Examining the world university rankings, it is also clear that countries where the governments have a more direct control on the universities are not the countries that have the best universities. Therefore, it is important to promote the equality of access to education opportunities without being dependent on a direct control by the countries’ governments. In this light, online education is in a unique position to achieve both equalitarian access and independence from over-bearing control by the countries’ governments (Lane, 1993, 1995), namely the European countries. Through digital networks, availability of access to information is clearly leveling the playing field, however reducing governmental quality control –especially in instances involving online learning with international education institutions, it is imperative that there is agreement regarding quality control among all partnering institutions. Online education has been for a long time seen as a second-opportunity education oriented towards older adults already working who did not have the chance to follow the standard education system. But with the recent development of powerful digital networks and free access to large quantities of information, online education has become increasingly more attractive both because of its cost efficiency (the teacher/student ratio is smaller than in face-to-face universities) and because of its wide reach (online universities can reach the whole world). By understanding the growing advantages of online teaching, European policy-makers have been greatly increasing the incentives for research in online education. An example of such incentives is the increase in funding by the EU toward EADTU projects concerning quality in higher education, such as E-xcellence and E-xcellence Next projects. Both of these projects aim to clearly define and establish quality standards for online education. Funds are directly allocated toward efforts to increase collaboration between institutions and professionals working in the field of online, namely the national agencies for assessment and accreditation of higher education (Ubachs, 2012; North, 1990). 77!