A Virtual University Model for Higher Education in Republic of Yemen

The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility, practicality and desirability of establishing a virtual university using Internet-based technology in Yemen. The intention would be to deliver higher education in order to accommodate the rapid growth in the number of secondary school graduates. The questionnaire in this study was designed to obtain respondents' views in relation to the proposed model. It was distributed to 996 teaching members (male and female) at two major universities: Sana'aU, AdenU. The number of questionnaires returned was 538; this represents about 57% of the total sample. The majority of respondents (about 67.7%; N= 364) suggested that establishing a virtual university in Yemen was appropriate to meet the increasing demand for higher education. Group B represented the highest percentages of agreement at around 92.7%, while Group A represented nearly 60.2%. In contrast, the remaining 32.3% of the total number of respondents believed that there are alternative available solutions that can be utilised in order to overcome this problem. Almost 19.0% stated that they would like the private sector to take its responsibility seriously and begin autonomously or collaboratively with the Saudi government, to construct more traditional colleges and universities in all regions of the Yemen. Around 51.1% were in favour of the MHE, on behalf of the Yemeni government, taking full control of higher education provision, introducing more traditional public colleges and universities throughout the Republic. Finally, almost 29.9% appreciated any effort made by the current traditional universities to increase their capacity to absorb more students now and in the future. The study concluded that a virtual university was both systematically desirable and culturally feasible; therefore, recommendations were made for its implementation.