unprepared for a competitive threat from outside that region. Stanford Online is 

already looking to exploit its existing client base to become more national. 

The CISAER survey indicates that institutions in Europe (60.8%), North America (21.5%), 

and Australia with New Zealand (7.7%) overwhelmingly outnumbers institutions in South 

America (3.1%), Asia (3.1%), and Africa (0.8%). Even though the researchers have a better 

knowledge of Europe, North America, and Australia than they have of the rest of the world, 

the survey testifies that these continents overwhelmingly dominate web based education. 

North America dominates the world of online education. Some of the reasons for this 

dominance are the well developed Internet infrastructure, the economic strength of the 

educational providers, the international dominance of the English language, the well 

developed university systems, and the famous brand name universities. 

The linguistic diversity in Europe is problematic for global competitiveness. Hence, UK 

providers seem to have a more international approach than providers in other European 

countries. Different national systems of degrees, certificates, and grades also make it more 

difficult to compete globally. A European harmonization of these systems will increase the 

competitiveness. Further, unlike North America, higher education in Europe is largely state 

funded, and this could resist change and become a barrier to competitiveness. The most 

obvious example is that national regulations in countries such as Sweden and Germany 

prevent institutions from charging tuition fees. 

The Australian institutions are among the largest and most advanced in this analysis. Since the 

courses also are provided in English, Australian institutions should be very competitive in the 

emerging global market. 

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