Virtual education Vs. Real life education
It's definitely a great experience for many students across the world to visit foreign countries and meet different cultures, people and habits.
Very often the "real life education" is more precious than official education in universities etc. as you learn how to "survive" in this world in different -business and pleasure- "habitats".
Schools mainly teach you the facts but not how to sail between them in real life.
So, you need to go out to the "world" to learn how to live. Virtual education and sites like Google Earth can never bring you the real spirit. You cannot smell Toscana through your PC. At least not for now ;)
JP
Comments
Erasmus - Kant
I agree with JP that travelling brings unique sensations and experiences. Lots of people like to travel, or would like to travel more - others prefer to stay at home, or at least to study from home.
Erasmus travelled throughout Europe, Kant never left Königsberg - both ways of studying perfectly fit the European way of life.
That's the point of VM: to cater for a larger group of students than those who choose to travel. Virtual Erasmus also makes a lot of sense for shorter study programmes, or programmes with building blocks in several countries.
If you prefer the best of what European universities have to offer, or if you choose comfort, speed, and no travel hassle, VM is for you.
William van Zanten, Open University of the Netherlands, zan@ou.nl