The University of Otago and the ''traditional university experience'' is not under threat from the rapid growth of free online education, vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne says.
Prof Hayne made the comments in the latest University of Otago Magazine, where she talked about the rise of massive open online courses.
While online education was not ''especially new'', massive open online courses had now been taken up by unprecedented numbers of people and the three largest providers - Udacity, Coursera and edX - boasted enrolments that ranged from 350,000 to 1.4 million, she said.
''Late last year, a worldwide movement forced universities around the world to stand up and take notice.''
Otago University was among the institutions to take the issue seriously.
''Over this past January, I personally studied everything that I could lay my hands on about the subject,'' she said.
After careful consideration, the conclusion was reached that online education would not displace the ''traditional university experience''.
This was because there were inherent problems with offering education online and because of the advantages of face-to-face learning and the university environment.
Although enrolment in online courses was ''extremely high'', completion was very low. More than 90% of students dropped out, in most cases.
This was in part because online courses often became ''boring'' quickly, she said.
''Even when you place the best speaker in the world on the internet, the experience pales in comparison to face-to-face interaction.''
University education was also about more than ''knowledge transfer'' and students at university also learnt tolerance and compassion and developed teamwork and oral communication, all of which required ''human contact on a day-to-day basis''.
''Second, in a world that depends more and more on science and technology, it is vitally important that university students have more, not less, laboratory-based experience.''
Rather than traditional universities being under threat, it was these massive online courses that faced an uncertain future.
''The business case for the future of massive open online courses actually hangs by a thread,'' she said.
It was likely enrolments in them would ''plummet'' if they began charging, which they would need to ''if anyone is going to make any money''.
The growth of online learning did reinforce the need for the university to keep abreast of advances in education techniques and take advantage of them when it ''made sense''.
''But we will also stick to our core values. As the only truly residential university in New Zealand, we will continue to deploy our resources, including our human capital, to ensure that current and future generations of Otago students have the opportunity to learn directly from teachers and directly from peers.''
