Universities with Online Courses

How to Navigate a University Websites- Distance Learning or Online Learning

As a general rule, both are a form of education where a physical distance separates the teacher and student, and there is no requirement to be on campus.

Traditionally, distance learning was correspondence learning. This was where a university would send all the reading material out by post. Then, the student would send back essays and receive feedback from the tutor by letter.

As the internet evolved, distance learning went online but kept the name. So now you find some universities call their online offering distance learning while others use online learning. And to confuse things, some now use flexible learning or add global to a course name to denote that it’s an online course.

Top-tip 1

Run more than one search when on a university’s website. For example, use the following “online”, “distance learning”, “global”, “flexible”.

Search for,

• Online courses
• Distance learning courses
• Flexible courses
• Global courses

University School/ Department Structure

A University’s website often reflects its organisational structure. For its website, this typically means that the central section covers general university areas and support services. With the details about their courses located in school /department sections.

This structure can be a pain as you might find some, but not all, of the courses they offer from the main page under online course. The reason is, in some cases, older courses listed as distance learning on a departments’ page might not show up in the main page search results.

Top-tip 2

Always double-check a university website if you can’t find the course you want via online learning straight away

Look for the equivalent on-campus course, and from that page, you should see a link to the school/ department page that teaches the programme. It’s on this section of the university’s website where you need to run a second search.

Confirmed Accredited Degree Providers

Only recognised bodies accredited by the UK government can offer degree and Master’s qualifications in the UK.

For UK residents, most prospective students will already be aware of the universities they are researching. However, it is wise for international students to double-check that the university they are interested in is recognised and accredited.

This page covers everything you need to know for more in-depth information on checking a registered university’s accreditation.