Degree Via Handphones?

Yes, you didn't read it wrong. Soon, you will be able to obtain your degrees via your mobile phone. As reported in the New Straits Times yesterday, "in the near future, Open University Malaysia (OUM) students can get snippets of their course modules on demand through SMS, courtesy of mobile learning (m-learning)."

"M-learning could become a global open university for all to participate in," she said.
OUM president Prof Tan Sri Anuwar Ali said it was important to utilise m-learning due to the ever increasing availability of wireless portable devices.

This was echoed by LTT Global Communications Sdn Bhd chief executive Wemel Cumavoo who said that mass usage of mobile devices today presented a more feasible environment for the deployment of m-learning than before.

He also added that Malaysia, with its 20 million mobile phone subscribers, had huge potential for m-learning.

I really don't know what else is there for me to add. How is one going to earn his or her degree via SMS? How can the president of OUM even regard this as even feasible intellectually? Is there no rigour left in university education?

As it stands, OUM offers PhD programmes for working adults on a part-time basis in subjects such as Engineering and Information Technology, which I'm not in favour of. Now, you can purchase your degree via SMS.

Submit your essays in chunks of 160 characters? Multiple choice essay questions with very short answers? Fill in the blanks?

The whole idea of obtaining a degree via SMS sounds even more incredulous than the bogus universities concept perpetuated by "institutions" the non-Irish Irish International University.