Examines how the higher education environment is being shaped by new information technologies, with a particular focus on technologies based in the Internet. This work illustrates a vision of how virtual universities and their elements are emerging, and of how they can be shaped to the needs of knowledge-based societies.

This book examines how the higher education environment is being shaped by new information technologies, with a particular focus on technologies based in the Internet. This work will illustrate a vision of how virtual universities and their elements are emerging, and of how they can be shaped to the needs of knowledge-based societies. It will also examine what requirements and policies are necessary to effect the worldwide transformation of educational systems, especially given the disparate needs and capabilities across countries.

Introduction to issues in higher education. Preface. Authors.
Introduction. (T. Tschang, T. Della Senta). Knowledge-Based Perspectives on Learning and Institutional Change. Virtual universities and learning environments: characterizing their emergence and design (T. Tschang). Learning environments: the virtual university and beyond (M. Dillinger). Reforming the educational knowledge base: course content and skills in the internet age (J. Szczypula et al.). Transforming Learning Environments with New Technologies. Internet technologies: towards advanced infrastructure and learning applications (Ng Chong). Course delivery systems for the virtual university (P. Brusilovsky, P. Miller). Digital libraries and virtual universities (C.L. Borgman). Social foundations for collaboration in virtual environments (G. Mark).
Moving Towards the Virtual University: Institutional Experiences from Different Regions. Institutional models for virtual universities (R. Mason). From traditional distance learning to virtual distance learning in higher education in Africa: trends and challenges (M. Juma). Graduate studies at a distance: the construction of a Brazilian
model (R. Barcia et al.). The ITESM virtual university: towards a transformation of Higher Education (M.M. Perez). Distance higher education and a new trend of virtual universities in Asia (A. Yoshida). The internet and virtual universities: towards learning and knowledge systems (T. Tschang) Author index. Subject index.