[Ramrod]

Argos chain to offer cut-price degrees
1 Apr 2004 by Malcolm Drury
The Argos chain is to seek accreditation as a university and offer cut-price degrees through its catalogue operations.

Brenda Shuttleworth, VP of strategic planning for the chain, told our reporter that the government's victory in getting its controversial university top-up fees legislation through the House of Commons opens the door for making cheap degrees available.

She said that because of lower overheads and its bulk purchasing power Argos felt that it would be able to offer degree courses for considerably less than the £3,000 annual tuition fee that the present universities will be allowed to charge.

Although plans were still at an early stage of development she said that Argos's initial thinking was that they would contract academics in universities throughout the world to develop course modules, which would then be made available through the chain's catalogue outlets for home study. The academics would also be contracted to mark examination papers. By going worldwide for bids the lowest possible price would be obtained. She noted that the Open University has been offering the home study option for over 30 years, so the concept is not new.

The difference between the Argos proposal and what the Open University has to offer would be that students would be able to take the modules back for an exchange or refund if they were found to be unsuitable or faulty, Ms Shuttleworth explained.

"We offer a full money-back guarantee on everything we sell, and this would be no different," she said. "And that would include if a customer failed a course, something I doubt the other universities will be offering."

Professor Douglas Ramsbottom, Dean of the School of Early Etruscan History and Accountancy at the University of Bootle, said that he fully endorsed the Argos proposal. "It will give me the chance to make a few extra quid," he explained. "Or it will if they don't go entirely off-shore for their product. Anyway, it will at least take some of the teaching load off me, and my colleagues and I are always glad of that."

A spokesman for Charles Clarke, the Secretary of State for Education, said that he was unaware of the Argos proposal, but he felt that Mr Clarke would be supportive as it could go a long way to helping the government meet its target of 50% of school leavers going on to university whether they had the intelligence for it or not. He noted that it should be easy for Argos to get university accreditation, citing the precedent of the huge explosion in British institutions that were declared universities in recent decades. "It seems to me that these days all you have to do is ask," he said, "but don't quote me on that."

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