This is causing universities to rethink their value to students,” says Professor Koller, who is from Stanford University’s computer science department. The most prestigious universities are always going to have enough demand for places - but the emergence of high-quality online courses could be tougher for middle-ranking institutions. Why would you pay high fees to sit through a mediocre lecture, when you could go online and watch world experts at another university, even if it’s in another country? “The universities in the middle will really have to think about their proposition,” she says.