Are Russell Group universities taking full advantage of online education?

Of all the various groupings of UK higher education institutions (HEIs) with representative bodies, the most prestigious is the research-intensive, highly ranked Russell Group. This group largely comprises the UK universities that consistently rank the highest internationally among UK HEIs and possess some of the biggest and strongest brands of all UK universities.

This gives them a strong and advantageous position to attract prospective online students. However, in general, elite, prestigious universities have not always had the strongest relationship with online distance education. In the past, when online distance education was often viewed narrowly as a widening participation activity, the so-called non-traditional students that this activity might have targeted were hardly the audience for Russell Group universities.

Although this group of universities has made efforts to widen participation, it seems that hardly a year goes by without critiques of some of these universities' attempts to open their doors more widely, particularly Oxford and Cambridge.

In a 2018 keynote entitled “The prestige claims of UK universities: rhetoric and reality”, Professor Vikki Boliver argued that:

“most Russell Group universities are really no different to most other ‘Old’ (pre-1992) universities; they simply benefit from the reflected glory of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge whose prestige, in turn, stems ultimately from being old, rich, and a long-standing haunt of the elite.”

She went on to argue:

“that the ‘world-class university’ as currently conceived is antithetical to widening participation; an overriding concern to select only the ‘brightest and best’ students as measured by prior academic achievement, and the substitution of excellence in research for excellence in teaching and learning, serves to exclude the vast majority of prospective students from disadvantaged backgrounds.”

This characterisation contrasts pretty sharply with the aim expressed by the President of Arizona State University, Michael M. Crow, who said he wants the university to be one "that measures itself by inclusivity, not exclusivity."

Exclusivity hinders rather than helps…

It is this sense of measuring success by exclusivity that has undoubtedly influenced Russell Group universities' engagement with online distance education. This continues to manifest in different ways, which risks being antithetical to the effective strategy, development, and delivery of online education.

For example, in some cases, Russell Group universities have excluded online education companies from responding to tenders if they have not previously worked with a Russell Group university. Rather than judging a company on its merits, they are filtered out based on whether or not they have worked with this particular group of universities.

Equally, at a time when more and more universities are recruiting for senior online education roles to support their ambitions, this group has been, and is more likely to be, specifying that these roles are only open to senior academics. This approach can stem from perceptions of credibility, prestige, and internal politics.

While it would be wrong to suggest that an academic isn’t capable of delivering in such a role, it seems unwise to seriously limit the pool of potential candidates. Senior academics are highly unlikely to have had prior experience in equivalent roles, and the skills required for academic positions are less likely to align with the needs of roles involving strategy, development, and delivery of an effective online distance education operation in a competitive market landscape. Given that, in the UK, the majority of those with experience in these roles are not senior academics, the universities that currently employ them will hope that this approach continues to prevail.

Russell Group universities are also the most likely to make their undergraduate degrees, and to a lesser extent postgraduate degrees, effectively off-limits for online distance education. Sometimes this is due to internal politics and academic resistance, with an implicit belief that this mode might devalue the brand by not attracting the “right” kind of student.

While I know some might be incredulous about what I’ve outlined here, it is important to state the reality. These attitudes and this culture still exist in pockets within some elite universities when it comes to online distance education. However, it is also important to emphasise that not everyone within these universities should be tarred with the same brush.

The big picture relationship with online education

While some may interpret that portrayal as suggesting limited involvement from Russell Group universities in online distance education, there are, in fact, thousands of online students at these universities. As of 2022-23, Russell Group universities accounted for 22% of all online postgraduate taught students and 2% of all online undergraduate students. This includes both domestic and international online students.

Although the 2% of all online undergraduates is the most striking statistic, it needs to be understood in the context that this type of provision is underdeveloped across the board compared to postgraduate taught provision.

While this group of universities has a not insignificant number of online students, they do not dominate the field by any means. Only five Russell Group universities make it into the top 50 UK HEIs with the highest number of online undergraduate students, and nine feature in the top 50 for online postgraduate students.

No man's land…online undergraduate degrees

Half of all Russell Group universities had no online undergraduate students in 2022-23, and several others had minimal online student numbers. In reality, there is currently only one Russell Group university that has made a genuine strategic investment in an online undergraduate degree portfolio, and that is the London School of Economics (LSE). In 2019, they launched a portfolio of BSc programmes delivered in partnership with the University of London and US OPM company 2U.

But outside of that, if you think you've seen an online undergraduate degree from a Russell Group university, you might want to speak to someone—you could be hallucinating.

The obvious opportunity space…online postgraduate degrees

You’ll have no such concerns when it comes to online postgraduate courses, as this is an area where several Russell Group universities have built up provision. As of 2022-23, there were 11 Russell Group universities with over 1,000 online postgraduate students, composed of both international and domestic students. However, it must be noted that these numbers do not always tell the full story and should not necessarily be taken as exclusive indicators of institutional maturity or a university-wide strategic investment in this type of provision.

The other 13 universities are at various stages in terms of online postgraduate provision, and several still have a long way to go to achieve a significant number of online students. However, a number of universities in this group have ambitions to grow their online student body into the thousands and have set up online operations and/or entered into partnerships with online programme management (OPM) companies.

Online postgraduate provision is the most obvious opportunity space for many of the Russell Group universities. This market grows more competitive year on year, but the strength of these universities' brands provides one clear advantage. However, brand strength alone does not guarantee success in this market and can sometimes lead to a degree of hubris, which may obscure the effort and smarts needed to succeed.

The most notable players…

The Russell Group university that has been one of the longest-standing players in strategically entering the online distance education market is the University of Liverpool. In the early 2000s, University of Liverpool Online was established, along with the first major OPM partnership in the UK with the US company Laureate.

That partnership has since ended, and there has been a decline from the heights of having 10,000 online postgraduate students in the 2010s. However, the University of Liverpool Online is still going strong, and HESA data from 2022-23 shows an increase in enrolments as they aim to rebuild their online student numbers.

As well as being an early entrant into this market, they are an example of what I believe will become increasingly common—UK HEIs, either due to the cessation of partnerships or unsuccessful initial ventures into the online education market, entering a kind of 2.0 or second incarnation of their online operations.

Another university in this group that entered the market in the early 2000s was the University of Edinburgh. Their initial strategy was an interesting one. Through their Principal’s eLearning Fund, they distributed funding to support the development of online postgraduate degrees, as part of a strategy described as letting “a thousand flowers bloom.” This is one of the reasons why they now have a portfolio of over 80 postgraduate degrees.

This approach is interesting and one that will appeal in principle to many in UK higher education because it is very devolved and not overly top-down or centralised. However, it is worth evaluating more carefully, because, in general terms, such a strategy can result in a pancake portfolio with many programmes that do not all attract significant student numbers. Whatever the modality, that type of portfolio is becoming harder to sustain in the current UK higher education financial climate, and there is generally more scrutiny of programmes that aren’t performing well, with many being jettisoned. However, an institution's financial context plays a central role in strategy, and this is less of a concern for an institution that reported income of £1.3 billion at the end of its most recent financial year and has the third-largest endowment of all UK universities, compared to many others.

One other Russell Group university worth mentioning is King’s College London, which, like Edinburgh, reported well over 5,000 online students in 2022-23. They are another university in a 2.0 online operation phase. In 2016, they launched King’s Online, along with a partnership with what was then Pearson’s OPM. However, that partnership and brand no longer exist. Instead, King’s Digital is the new brand and operation behind this second phase, which aims to deliver on the institution’s ambition to be the UK leader in online education by 2029.

An interesting focus on short courses

Another notable aspect of Russell Group universities' online education activity is their involvement in online short courses and certificates. While this is an area of growing interest across the sector, some Russell Group universities have made strategic investments in it. For example, the University of Leeds has developed a large portfolio of MOOCs delivered via FutureLearn, as has the University of Edinburgh across a broader range of platforms.

Beyond these examples, there are institutions with a more commercial focus for their portfolios, such as the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School and the University of Cambridge’s Institute for Sustainable Leadership, alongside its Cambridge Advance Online initiative. However, perhaps the most significant player has been LSE, with its online certificate portfolio, which has seen enrolments grow to over 10,000 students.

Unsurprisingly, all of these examples involved partnerships with private online education companies. While other Russell Group universities not mentioned here did invest in MOOCs during their heyday, the return on investment was minimal, non-existent, or largely overlooked in financial terms. As I’ve highlighted previously, a lack of vision, interest, and strategy during this period led to a significant missed opportunity, at a time when the capacity and actual investment in online education to support online short courses from HEIs were more substantial. Ironically, we are now in a period where there is a greater necessity to develop online courses with demonstrable market demand, but significantly fewer financial resources to support that aim.

Sleeping giants or self-saboteurs?

This brings us to an interesting area: gauging the success and potential of these prestigious institutions. For those at a nascent stage in online education, there are questions about the direction to take and the scale of the opportunity. For those who have been invested in online education for many years, there are legitimate questions about whether, given the size, reach, and prestige of their institution, they should be further along with a more significant online student body.

From a university brand perspective, there is great potential for Russell Group universities to serve a wider audience and attract more students via online distance learning. They also tend to be the HEIs with the most significant resources to direct toward this activity.

However, it is this very prestige that can, and has, hindered the realisation of this potential. That sense of exclusivity can act like a virus, corrupting strategy, operations, and the understanding of the changes needed to succeed in online education. It is also fair to say that resistance to change and sensitivities around any moves that might challenge devolved autonomy are more pronounced within this group.

Even for those Russell Group HEIs that are further along with online distance education, questions could be asked about whether they have truly fulfilled their potential during that time.

Reputation, brand, and prestige continue to offer a significant advantage to this group of universities. However, collectively, these institutions have yet to fully capitalise on the advantages they hold in online distance education. Given recent discussions about the risk of UK higher education sliding into decline and losing its global reputation, that window of opportunity may not remain open for as long as we think.