So the recent flurry of interest, not to mention a handful of applications to ODL QC, might come as something of a surprise. At least, at first glance. But a second look shows that many have strangely familiar yet subtly different names, names like Oxford International University, or Adam Smith University. Many are based, or at least incorporated, in exotic places, like Norfolk Island or the Bahamas. And many are only just setting up.

They are part of a growing trend. Distance education is becoming global. With email and the Internet, Norfolk Island is as close as Norfolk, England; the Bahamas as close as Balham. Five minutes on the web, and you can find dozens of virtual universities, all claiming to offer life-enhancing degrees. There are opportunities out there, and entrepreneurs eager to exploit them.

Responses to this trend take several forms. One is to dismiss all unfamiliar Universities as degree-mills. Some almost certainly are degree mills, and should be exposed as such. By whom, of course, is a different matter. The only widely respected guide to degrees by distance learning world-wide is Bear's Guide; the work of a committed individual, not an organisation, let alone a government. Yet another sign of the lack of official interest in distance learning.