Royal Holloway, University of London

[Divinus Arma]

I wish I were rich.

I'm an education fiend. Once I finish my MBA, MPA, and eventually my PhD, I want to go back and get undergrad degrees in classical studies, theology, and political science.

I just discovered that Royal Holloway, University of London, offers a classical studies undergraduate degree via distance education (http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Classics/about-us/distance_learning.html). Which is good for a yank like me.

Unfortunately, the cost is more than I can bear: http://www.rhul.ac.uk/prospective-students/finance/UGfees.html#Overseas

11,275 GBP Per year!!!!!

Anybody here attend this Uni? I know nothing about it. Is it prestigious, etc? That is a very costly program of study.


Arrrrrrrgh. Another one. University of Glasgow offers BD in general theology (http://www.religions.divinity.gla.ac.uk/Distance%20learning/index.html)via distance education.

[doc_bean]

Honestly, if you don't care about the degrees (since you're never going to use them anyway), just get some decent books together and educate yourself.

Or find a really cheap college/uni/course

[English assassin]

RHUL is a college of London University. The degree it would aware would be a London University degree. Both the college and the london degree are well regarded. (London University is federal. All its degrees are taught for and awarded by member colleges. The fact that the college awards the university degree rather than its own qualification does not mean the college is second rate. Some world class institutions are "only" colleges of London University.)

I think you were looking at the cost of studying in the flesh though, this page http://www.londonexternal.ac.uk/prospective_students/faqs/undergrad/ug_cost.shtml suggests it would be quite a bit cheaper, though still not cheap. And its not that clear.

[Divinus Arma]

Honestly, if you don't care about the degrees (since you're never going to use them anyway), just get some decent books together and educate yourself.

Or find a really cheap college/uni/course

I do quite a bit of self-education as it is, but formal education offers a structure and format that I find enjoyable. Testing and writing offers me a challenge in critical thinking which forces me to consider concepts and underlying themes I may otherwise miss on my own.

And besides, all education is useful. Even a degree in basket-weaving.


English Assassin:
£8,300 for online degrees. Is that per year or total program? You're right, it is a little vague. I guess I would start making phone calls when I get to the point where I could actually attend.



General question to anyone: What is your opinion of distance education / online schooling? This method, though non-traditional, has exploded in the last few years and seems to be growing still.

[matteus the inbred]

I went to Royal Holloway, (and my degrees are therefore 'University of London').

It's not actually in London, it's some 30 mins by train to the west, near Egham, Windsor and Staines. Nice area, but quite posh. I guess that doesn't matter if you're doing it by distance education.
Royal Holloway itself is very well-regarded in some areas, certainly its classical and history departments usually score 4-5 stars out of 5 in various respected ratings like the Times Higher. I studied history, ancient and medieval, and also some classics, and can recommend the current history/classics department very highly.

Anyway, I was very pleased with my time there and came out with a good degree and a masters. I can't fault their actual teaching and resources (and the resources of Senate House and various other libraries in London are easily available too), but that does seem a hell of a lot to pay for the course!
Therefore I guess if you have the money it will be worth doing the course.

A good friend of mine is currently completing her PhD at Bristol, this is also a very good 'classics' university.

[Louis VI the Fat]

General question to anyone: What is your opinion of distance education / online schooling? This method, though non-traditional, has exploded in the last few years and seems to be growing still.I think very highly of online schooling! I got my university degree from King's College of International Bussiness and Administration in Lagos, Nigeria. It wasn't a lot of hard work at all, and quite cheap! :idea2:

[matteus the inbred]

I think very highly of online schooling! I got my university degree from King's College of International Bussiness and Administration in Lagos, Nigeria. It wasn't a lot of hard work at all, and quite cheap!

glad to hear it...it's the coming thing, and being taken very seriously by some very prestigious and widely recognised universities.

[Sjakihata]

General question to anyone: What is your opinion of distance education / online schooling? This method, though non-traditional, has exploded in the last few years and seems to be growing still.

I don't think highly of it. A big part of education is the face-to-face lectures with the professors. A situation in a classroom cannot be simulated satisfactory yet, I would never do distance teaching. Even the lousiest crappiest university would do you better than distance teaching.

[English assassin]

I disagree. When its well done its fine, in fact probably better than my degree, which consisted largely of letting me loose in the library for three years and then making me sit some exams. Well, all right, I was in the pub for two years.

What you do need to look for is a course that has been specifically designed for delivery over the internet. There is a lot more to it than bunging some lecture notes on line, and to do it well is expensive.

[matteus the inbred]

agreed EA, well put. in some cases it may even encourage more independent work and a greater ability to think for oneself and research effectively. i used to hate a lot of lectures...we even had 'livenet' lectures beamed over from london onto a TV in the department, which was fine until we worked out how to turn the sound off at our end and the picture off at theirs and then sneak off for a coffee...

[doc_bean]

I do quite a bit of self-education as it is, but formal education offers a structure and format that I find enjoyable. Testing and writing offers me a challenge in critical thinking which forces me to consider concepts and underlying themes I may otherwise miss on my own.

True, heck, i'm going for my second Master's, but it costs me about €500 (lbing expenses not included) a year. I wouldn't want to fork out much more, certainly not for an education you're not going to use.


And besides, all education is useful. Even a degree in basket-weaving.

Hey, i have a degree in cooking :2thumbsup: (at a level that says i can cut vegetables, barely...)



General question to anyone: What is your opinion of distance education / online schooling? This method, though non-traditional, has exploded in the last few years and seems to be growing still.

IMO one of the big benefits of a normal education are the lectures, where a professor tells you little facts and things you miss when just studying the text. I think the new forms of education make it easier for professors and the like (which was the point, since they're expensive) but it doesn't help the quality of education. You basically get a bunch of articles or a text and have to study that. Often no room for a counter point or a different opinion is left, at least in lectures you could raise your hand and object...

BTW does the on line education give you access to library services such as sciencedirect or webofknowledge ? Those cost a lot of money and do offer you a chance of exploring themes in a different way. Once you learn to wade through the trash at least.

[Duke Malcolm]

I thought about the prospect of applying to Royal Holloway, but decided Imperial College would be better...

The University of Glasgow is quite good for Divinity, and shall most likely be cheap cheap - English people only have to pay £1,175 I think...

[Divinus Arma]

Just a little clarification for those who are completely inexpereinced with modern distance education. I have attended both formats, traditional and distance. I have also attended two types of distance education courses: Asynchronous, and combination asynchronous/synchronous.

The combination asynch/synch ditance ed courses are spectacular. They now use voice over communication via an internet connection. The professors verbally communicate to students, and the students verbally respond. In addition, the lecture is supported by an online "blackboard", where the professor can draw, post powerpoints, bring up word documents, and even access students' computers using desktop sharing software. The professor also has a number of other tools, such as instant surveys and simultaneous text chat.

The online lectures now even support live streaming video, though it is still a little sketchy because not everyone has a 300kb per sec connection.

All of this is relatively new. Until recently, most online lectures have been through a chat, similar to what we have here at the org.


Online libraries have grown tremendously over the past few years as well. My university has a monstrous online library with access to periodicals, journals, online books, and other studies. The university pays subscription fees to countless journal article databases so that students have access to the latest scholarly articles. Will you find some older articles? Not always. Many older books have not been updated into the system, but digitizing books has increased the university's capacity to offer volumes of data at a fraction of the cost of a traditional library. Furthermore, there exists no dilemma in multiple students seeking the same information. With an online database, several students can all access the same material at the same time with no problem.

[Louis VI the Fat]

glad to hear it...it's the coming thing.I was kinda making a joke. I hoped that 'Lagos, Nigeria' would be enough of a clue. :embarassed:
It's in reference to all that spam I receive: 'Get a MBa now from our prestigious university x from third world country y in three months, only 150 dollars american!!!


More seriously: nothing beats the smell of a real college, the daily contact with fellow students and teachers, a library filled with co-students, or going to the park after class to impress female students with newly acquired existentialist nonsense.

After you've done all that, yeah, why not keep educating yourself and take some online-education afterwards? Modern technique has opened up a wealth of possibilities. It certainly beats just reading some books by yourself. It forces discipline on yourself, you work towards an examination or paper, you receive feedback.

[Sjakihata]

I was kinda making a joke. I hoped that 'Lagos, Nigeria' would be enough of a clue. :embarassed:
It's in reference to all that spam I receive: 'Get a MBa now from our prestigious university x from third world country y in three months, only 150 dollars american!!!


Well, I got the clue, and I was sort of thinking that he played along with it.

[Crazed Rabbit]

General question to anyone: What is your opinion of distance education / online schooling? This method, though non-traditional, has exploded in the last few years and seems to be growing still.

Poor. My only experience with it has been with one course from one of the better state unis, and all I got for 1 grand was homework assignments and exam dates, with some internet resources, 'taught' (graded, rather) by a TA.

Crazed Rabbit

[matteus the inbred]

I was kinda making a joke. I hoped that 'Lagos, Nigeria' would be enough of a clue. :embarassed:
It's in reference to all that spam I receive: 'Get a MBa now from our prestigious university x from third world country y in three months, only 150 dollars american!!! .


Well, I got the clue, and I was sort of thinking that he played along with it.

sort of...I get that spam too. I work in higher education reference publishing, there are reputable universities in Nigeria y'know!