Students are spending too much time in front of the television - but they are more likely to wind up with a degree than square eyes.

For Anglia Polytechnic University is using the goggle box to help deliver lectures to students living on the other side of the world.

Rather than have students shelling out thousands of pounds to wing their way to England the Chelmsford college uses the TV to lecture to more than 20 students every week - live in Malaysia in the Far East.

Using a live telephone and television link up Graham Webster teaches students in Malaysia based at a partner university to APU.

A television screen allows the students on the other side of the world to see the lecturer in Chelmsford and vice versa.

"The first two years can be done with textbooks but the third year needed interactive teaching and the only way that could be done over a couple of thousand miles was by video conferencing," said Mr Webster.

"Perhaps the only problems we face are the couple of seconds delay between the two countries and an 'act of God', such as the annual Malaysian monsoons."

Mr Webster added: "It is quite rare for a university to do an international link-up each week. I believe it is the only degree course in the country being taught in this way."

The scheme was launched as a pilot last year when the video screens were used to help teach a course to students at Lowestoft College in Suffolk.

He added: "The feedback from students who have been taught this way has been very positive. We have also interviewed potential nursing students from India using this method."

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