Comparingcarbon emissionsbetweenonlineand in-person studyfora cohort ofoverseas students: A retrospective cohort study.

Abstract

Background One of the benefits of online education is the potential reduction in carbon emissions through the decrease in travel toattenda universityin person.We estimated the savings in CO 2emissions ofan internationalcohort of master's students who studied fully online from their home countries, rather than travelling to the UK and living there while attending university. Methods The city and country of residence ofa cohort ofstudents who first enrolled in the fully online Peoples-uni/Manchester Metropolitan University MPH programme betweenthe second semesterof 2011and the first semester 2013 were recorded. We estimated the aviation emissions between Manchester, UK and the cities where students reside, and subtracted the per capita emissions for the country of origin from the per capita emissions for the UK over the time that the student would have spent in Manchester as a full-time student, based on the semester in which they first enrolled. Results 128 students enrolled from 55 cities in 31 countries. 93 students werefroma range of African countriesand 18 from the Indian sub-continent. Flights to and from Manchester were estimated to have accountedfor 114,553kg of CO 2andliving in Manchester for the duration of their course compared with staying in the home country would have been equivalent to 854,904kg of CO 2. Thecombinednet savings was 969,457kg of CO 2. Conclusions A smallcohortof overseas students,largely fromAfrica and India, studied online rather than attending university in the UK. The saving by this smallcohortofnearly amillion kg of CO 2emissions through not attending university in-personoffersan indicationof the potential environmentalbenefitsofoffering university education online to overseas students.