Middlesex first uni to offer free e-book to all students for every module
Middlesex first uni to offer free e-book to all students for every module
11/08/2015
All Middlesex students will receive one free e-textbook per module from the start of the 2015-16 academic year
Middlesex has become the
first university in the UK to offer all its students a free e-book for each module they
are studying.
The e-texts are selected by module
leaders to ensure that students are learning from the most appropriate
material.
It is estimated that by providing
access to core textbooks in this way, students will save an estimated £450 over
the course of a three-year degree programme.
The scheme was piloted last academic
year in the Schools of Business and Law with great success. During that time,
more than 20,000 e-books were read by students – 95 per cent of whom rated the
scheme 'excellent' or 'good'.
"The free e-text books made a huge difference to me, both financially and academically" - Inayat Patel, BA Marketing graduate
Recent BA Marketing Inayat Patel was
one of the students to benefit from the pilot scheme.
"The free e-text books made a huge
difference to me, both financially and academically," he said.
"Each of my textbooks would have cost
between £30-70 and I saved around £250 over the last year alone. It also made
studying easier. With the e-texts I had less to carry around and could study on
the move, and annotating was easier because I could do it electronically rather
than use fiddly post-it notes or scribbling in margins."
Middlesex University Vice-Chancellor
Professor Tim Blackman said the pioneering scheme will make a huge
difference to the teaching and learning experience at Middlesex.
"Becoming the first university in the
UK to offer a free e-book for each module of study underlines our dedication to
innovation and providing our students with the latest study tools."
As well as the ability to make notes, e-books enable the reader to find specific information easily through electronic search and they can be read on a wide range of devices including
e-readers, phones, tablets and laptops.
Peter
Gray, CEO and chairman of JS Group, which is supplying the electronic texts on behalf of Middlesex, said: "This is the first time that an entire cohort of students at any UK
university will be given their core texts electronically for free.
"Students
starting university are now 'digital natives'. Having their course books in
e-book format is the best fit for how they study."
Middlesex first uni to offer free e-book to all students for every module
The e-texts are selected by module leaders to ensure that students are learning from the most appropriate material.
It is estimated that by providing access to core textbooks in this way, students will save an estimated £450 over the course of a three-year degree programme.
The scheme was piloted last academic year in the Schools of Business and Law with great success. During that time, more than 20,000 e-books were read by students – 95 per cent of whom rated the scheme 'excellent' or 'good'.
Recent BA Marketing Inayat Patel was one of the students to benefit from the pilot scheme.
"The free e-text books made a huge difference to me, both financially and academically," he said.
"Each of my textbooks would have cost between £30-70 and I saved around £250 over the last year alone. It also made studying easier. With the e-texts I had less to carry around and could study on the move, and annotating was easier because I could do it electronically rather than use fiddly post-it notes or scribbling in margins."
Middlesex University Vice-Chancellor Professor Tim Blackman said the pioneering scheme will make a huge difference to the teaching and learning experience at Middlesex.
"Becoming the first university in the UK to offer a free e-book for each module of study underlines our dedication to innovation and providing our students with the latest study tools."
As well as the ability to make notes, e-books enable the reader to find specific information easily through electronic search and they can be read on a wide range of devices including e-readers, phones, tablets and laptops.
Peter Gray, CEO and chairman of JS Group, which is supplying the electronic texts on behalf of Middlesex, said: "This is the first time that an entire cohort of students at any UK university will be given their core texts electronically for free.
"Students starting university are now 'digital natives'. Having their course books in e-book format is the best fit for how they study."