What exactly is the point of a university? Two decades ago, when I studied at Cambridge University, the answer seemed relatively clear: college was where you went to lectures, wrote essays, met tutors - and participated in “improving” activities such as sport, drama or debates (or wild parties).
But these days, my sense of conviction is startling to crumble. Last month I attended a debate at the World Economic Forum in Davos on the future of online education, and it was startling for two reasons. Firstly, the debate was utterly packed, even though it was held in an inconvenient location and competing with other, headline-grabbing topics (such as Angela Merkel discussing the eurozone). The Davos elite considers this topic ultra hot.
The second surprise was just how much emotion and passion the topic stirs. For behind the scenes (or deep in the campus), the internet is placing universities on the brink of dramatic disruption - and this change could rival, or even eclipse, the type of shocks that technology has produced in the worlds of finance, retail and media in recent years.