In the UK, according to current government plans, every home will have access to broadband internet by 2012. But if South African broadband costs remain in their current price brackets, higher education will suffer, professors predict.

Lord Carter’s Digital Britain report proposed to scrap BT’s obligation to ensure every home access to a telephone line, and replace it with a requirement to provide broadband of up two megabits per second, BBC News reports.

In an article published recently by Sue Blaine in Business Day, it is clear that Telkom’s monopoly has allowed it to maintain prices far higher than those charged by the rest of the world, and that it is imperative that the South African government make broadband more accessible to the public.

“How come broadband access is 10 times more expensive in SA than in the UK? That’s just not reasonable,” said Professor Brenda Gourley of the UK’s Open University, at a meeting of the Independent Institute of Education in Pretoria.

The financial recession, coupled with racing changes in technology, place pressure on public and private higher educational institutions to maintain a whole new level of teaching and interaction that the world expects from its graduates.

“Only those (higher education institutions) that are managed better will survive. In the public sector the poorly managed ones will probably be allowed to survive, but the quality of education delivered will go down,” Gourley said.

According to a recent survey initiated by Educause Quarterly, more than 2.35 million students enrolled in online courses in Autumn 2004. The report also noted that the web is becoming an important long-term strategy for many postgraduate institutions – making the point that those who go on to pursue highly skilled careers often do so via the web.

The internet is revolutionising education in developed countries, and there is no reason why South Africa should miss the boat. To continue reading, visit Business Day.