An Architecture for a Federated Education System

Abstract

This article presents the development and software architecture of a conceptual and operational collaborative distance education model. Promotion of educational expertise, especially through expansion of specialization, is of increasing importance. Within the educational sphere, big universities tend to dominate the market at the expense of smaller ones. For small universities, the key to their survival could also be specialization within disciplines, coupled with collaboration among universities. Intra-discipline specialization would promote development of quality services, and interuniversity collaboration would enable a wide offering of these services. The proposed paradigm would require the development of a suitable model to support it. The model proposed in this article is a federation of independent universities that are loosely coupled to facilitate collaboration and the sharing and exchanging of information. The federated model, supported by agent-based communication over the Internet, can operate across geographical, cultural and organizational boundaries while promoting integration within those boundaries.