This is a plausible proposition. As the author argues in the article, most of the functions of universities can be covered more efficiently and more cheaply online. For example, lectures are obsolete. You only need a handful of really awesome lecturers on each topic to keep the entire world supplied with fresh and exciting undergraduate lectures. Currently, every university has its own set of lecturers, even for basic things.<p>It used to be that Higher Education was not something that everyone did. I think that top universities need to migrate back into that space. It could, and maybe should be that students will self-teach (using online resources) undergraduate materials that are essential to "have a degree" and only then join a University if they really want to continue their study of this subject. This will also allow people to progress at whatever pace they're comfortable with, rather than being forced to slow down or speed up to the pace of a specific university.<p>Undergraduate degrees have basically become a job requirement, something everyone has or should have, when they used to be something that only the elite would have. It's hard to reverse this process, but maybe top universities can retreat one stage further and let the lesser universities fight for the scraps of the undergraduate world.