Virtual Universities

African Virtual University (AVU)
The African Virtual University (AVU) is a first-of-its-kind interactive-instructional telecommunications network established to serve the countries of Africa. The objective of the AVU is to build capacity and support economic development by leveraging the power of modern telecommunications technology to provide world-class quality education and training programs to students and professionals in Africa.
Canadian Virtual University ®
CVU is a consortium of Canada's leading universities in distance and online learning. offering 2,200 courses and 280 complete degrees, diplomas, and certificates online and through distance education.
EuroPACE
EuroPACE is a network of about 60 members in almost 20 countries consisting of universities and their partners in education and training. "EuroPACE demonstrates and develops the potential of telematics for the European university of the future and thus contributes materially towards the realisation of the concept of lifelong learning and the creation of a Virtual University for Europe."
Expanding Access to Learning: The Role of Virtual Universities
From the abstract of a monograph by Carol A. Twigg (c) 2003 Center for Academic Transformation, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute: "This monograph discusses difference models of virtual university consortia (VUC). It identifies and discusses five critical success factors drawn from the experiences of the existing VUCs. The publication also describes a new, entrepreneurial approach to virtual university initiatives that is based on a system of targeted incentives rather than on a collaborative model. Six VUC's case studies are presented."
Finnish Virtual University (FVU)
The Finnish Virtual University (FVU) is a partnership of all 21 Finnish universities. It is based on collaboration, division of labour, shared knowledge and the expertise of these member universities. It promotes online learning and teaching and develops compatible information infrastructures. The FVU is one of the only national endeavours where all universities from one country are involved in working together towards the active use of ICT in education.
Global Virtual University (GVU)
The Global Virtual University (GVU) is an online network university for sustainable development, and has a particular objective to meet the educational needs of the developing world. It will deliver on-line e-learning courses and programs with a global outreach on environment and development. GVU is an international network of cooperating universities and institutions organized as a branch of the United Nations University (UNU) with an administrative center in Arendal, Norway and with headquarters at the UNU in Tokyo.
Statewide Virtual Networks
This list is assembled by ITC (Instrutional Communications Council) and provides not only links, but contact information for several institutions.
Ulric's List of Virtual Universities
An extensive list arranged by graduate, undergradate, general online education, and programs specific to Scandinavia. Maintained by Ulric Björck, Department of Education and Educational Research, Göteborg University.
Virtual Universities
This list assembled by ADEC (American Distance Education Consortium) links to specific universities as well a few news articles.
The Virtual Global University: The Realization of a fully Virtual University - Concept and Experiences
An article in the European Journal of Open and Distance Learning (EURODL) by Hannes Lischka, Judit Bajnai, Dimitris Karagiannis, Giannis Chalaris, University of Vienna, Institute for Computer Science and Business Informatics, Department of Knowledge Engineering and TEI Athens, Department of Computer Science, 2002.
The Virtual University Models and Messages
"This web publication and related pages are the outcome of an exploratory study undertaken by International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) on the phenomenon of the virtual university, an important development in the world of higher education." Edited by Susan D'Antoni, from UNESCO Publishing February, 2004. The site contains summaries of an online forum (now archived) as well as a listing of participating virtual university members arranged by institution, model or country.
Western Governors University
The principal mission of Western Governors University (WGU) is to improve quality and expand access to postsecondary educational opportunities by providing a means for individuals to learn independent of time and place and to earn competency based degrees and other credentials that are credible to both academic institutions and employers.

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