25/06/2009

The government is to introduce a new fund to enable students at risk of failing their degrees to complete them online.

According to the authorities, the new initiative will be an expansion of the role of the Open University, which is now almost completely based online.

The fund is aimed at providing additional support to the 35,000 student who abandon their studies every year.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: 'The success of distance learning, pioneered 40 years ago by the Open University, has been nothing short of a revolution for higher education.

'It has opened the doors to a whole new audience of students who have not only seen academic success but reaped the wider rewards learning brings.'

The new fund is to be created in addition to a £20 million investment in online learning unveiled earlier in the week.

Statistics published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in May showed that 7.4 per cent of undergraduates leave university during their first year of study.