Sarah Standing

Standing Room | 27 June 2009

Sarah Standing wonders what has happened to our universities

issue 27 June 2009

Logging on to a university homepage I noticed that the first thing it flags up — breaking news — is that they’re installing a £56,000 digital satellite TV system which will ‘transform’ the way students access multilingual news and information from around the world. Apparently the purchase of Exterity IPTV represents the Language Centre’s biggest-ever investment in technology for learning and teaching since it was established in 1994 and is ‘available to staff and students registered with the self-access area, who use it to improve their foreign language skills’. Personally I would have used the word ‘within’ as opposed to ‘registered with’ but hey, what do I know? I finished my formal education at 18 and opted out of becoming a Mistress of the Universe.

According to one campus academic, ‘you can even pause live TV, so it’s ideal if you want to stop and have a discussion part way through.’

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