单项选择题

Education is an absolute imperative in the emerging global knowledge society, so new ways of providing access to education for a much higher percentage of the population are now being devised.
The most dramatic examples of access to education are found in the 11 distance-education mega-universities found around the world. In "distance education", the student is separated in time or space from the teacher or professor. The largest of these high enrollment universities is in China, the China Central Radio and Television University, with more than 3 million students. The English-speaking world has the British Open University, with 215,000 students, and the University of South Africa, with 120,000 students. In addition to the mega-universities, dozens of other national and regional systems are providing education at all levels to students.
The base delivery system for the distance-education mega-universities is television, supple-mented by other technologies or even some online instruction in more developed countries. Some distance-education systems use two-way interactive video connections to particular locations where students gather; others supplement with the Internet, and still others deliver only by Internet. With video-and-audio-streaming now available, the Internet appears to be the technology of choice for systems where students have access to computers. Of course, these technologies merely add to the radio-delivered courses that have been offered for years in many countries around the world.
The programmes and courses offered vary from basic literacy courses to the highest graduate-level programming. Hundreds of university degrees are now available through distance education, where 90% or more of the required credits are given at a distance, as are dozens of master’s degrees and a small number of accredited doctoral degrees. One estimate suggests that 50,000 university-level courses are now available through distance-education delivery systems.
There will be two main types of educational institutions: those that add value in coursework and those that are certifying agencies. The certifying colleges and universities are those that act as educational banks for students. Students will earn credits from many places and have the credits or certifications of completion sent to the certifying university, then that certifying university will award the degree when enough credits of the right type have been accumulated. Regent’s College of the University of the State of New York and Thomas Edison College of New Jersey are public certifying institutions that give accredited degrees.
One vision for some of the remaining residential colleges in the United States, now serving mainly the 18-to-23-year-old population, is that many will become certifying colleges. Students will come to the colleges for their social, artistic, athletic, and spiritual programmes. The basic commodity these colleges will sell is membership in the college community. Students will access their courses from colleges and universities around the world, transfer the credits to the college, then gain a degree. Faculty members will serve as tutors and advisers and may provide some courses live.
If the residential colleges in the United States become certifying colleges then ______.