The funding body is due to contact higher education institutions in the UK, some of which already have online study facilities, asking them for feedback on the plans.

BBC: Universities told to catch the e-wave

Some universities already provide more up-market facilities, such as superior meeting and study areas, for MBA students.

BBC: Students could be tough customers

She also assisted in the establishment of a network of university-affiliated facilities and intellectual disabilities research centers at major medical schools across the United States, including centers for the study of medical ethics at Harvard and Georgetown universities in 1971.

CNN: Eunice Kennedy Shriver dies at 88