By the way, found the web link through Google, not easy to find through the Guardian site. I think the web issues mostly turn up through sponsors, not the print journalists.

Anyway back on topic, today the print Guardian has a page on postgraduate students sponsored by the Higher Education Academy. This is based on a seminar so the quotes are not identified with particular individuals.

The mooc mention is not until the second to last paragraph

Then there was the threat posed by technology and Mass Open Online Courses, which could see many students choose to study in the virtual world rather than sign up for a traditional postgraduate course

Not much more than a sentence. mooc as threat. But then there is the final paragraph

But technology offered opportunities too, it was agreed; studying online can give students the confidence to enrol on a higher degree course. And there are other reasons to be cheerful. "Postgraduate education is a good thing, and in this country it's fantastic," said one roundtable member. "That's to be celebrated."

So my guess is that the mooc is not really part of the discussion for postgraduate studies. It is just the latest buzzword for something that is mostly ignored as universities continue much as they always have done. Maybe the mooc is a form of promotion. I am interested in "content marketing" as an explanation of how free content appears. It seems that this could fit with universities where postgraduate forms of study are seen as an income and also related to research funding.

Maybe there is a discussion somewhere on how blended learning relates to postgraduate study, but I don't expect this to be reported in the Guardian anytime soon.