Problems with International Online Universities

Accredited International Online Universities seem to be ushering in a new era of education for the vast majority of the world, allowing students from around the globe to come together in internet classrooms, manufactured exclusively for their degrees.  However, international online universities are not without their issues, as students from China realized earlier this year.  China is notorious for its continuous ban of internet sites, ranging from the ever-popular Facebook, to any news sites that tend to speak badly of their government.  However, due to recent ethnic rioting in the Western Xinjiang region, the area lost most of its internet privileges for almost a year, the longest and most widespread blockage China had ever instilled on its citizens.

The day it was announced that internet was back on throughout the province, people rushed to internet cafes to catch up on emails, chat with friends, and simply relish in the freedom which had been taken away from them.  The government assumed that the violence which ravaged the region months ago was the direct result of internet usage between ethnic group Uighur and Uighurs who live outside the country.  As a result, internet usage was cut from the entire region while hostilities stemming from social injustice slowly calmed down.  The region makes up one-sixth of China’s territory, indicating the severity for the largest area of internet blockage Chinese citizens have ever endured.

While the internet blockage was lifted last week, it was not completed lifted, as social media sites continue to be out of reach, and any “sensitive material” sites which the government thinks would spawn increased hostilities in the region.  It is unclear whether online schools remain on or off the list of banned websites, and depending on what the Chinese government classifies them as, they could remain off limits for the coming months.  Online education has typically fallen into the social media category as the result of the many sites that have come together in recent years to bring people together.  It continues to be difficult for students in strict countries such as China to get onto international online universities, but as more and more countries gain internet access, online education will continue to spread across the global sphere.

For those still in Western China, internet access remains sketchy, but they will soon have the opportunity to again enroll in international online universities once the government realizes the threat is gone.