The Administrative Component of the VURM consists of the services traditionally offered by the following departments: admissions, counseling, student records, financial aid, bursars, and graduation. Under the traditional system, distant students would be at a disadvantage because of the physical separation. Systems and services need to appear seamless under the administrative component. Students need to be able to access their personal information on-line through some self-service technology. With self-service applications using the Internet and touch-tone phone technology, students can have access to their personal records and information 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This reengineering of service processes gives the student access to the right information quickly and efficiently. The Students Component of the VURM consists of the interaction that happens amongst students in a class. A virtual university needs to provide a student with a system that allows the student to interact with other students either in discussion groups or on an individual level. With the design of special interest groups, threaded discussions and chat rooms, new on-line communities can be formed which will help create a better learning environment |