The e-university faces an uphill struggle in convincing British white-collar workers of the need for further study, according to a four-nation survey of 25 to 44-year-olds, writes Pat Leon.

Only a third of UK respondents felt that further qualifications are important to career advancement, compared with nearly half of US respondents and about two-fifths of Hong Kong and Singaporean respondents.

Two-thirds of UK interviewees complained that they had no time for more study, half said they had no money and a third said they would prefer to be given a 10 per cent pay rise.

A poll of 1,000 people for the UKeU e-Learning Report 2003 , by Taylor Nelson Sofres plc, found that a degree was first choice among UK residents who wished to study further.

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Respondents expressed a preference for degrees from outside their business that are accredited by a college, university or professional institute and said they believed that academic qualifications become irrelevant once in a job and that performance is all important.

The report was commissioned to investigate employee attitudes to continuing professional development, degrees and e-learning across cultures.

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It found that 47 per cent of Hong Kong respondents and 59 per cent of Singaporeans looked more favourably on degrees from the UK than elsewhere.