44 Int. J. Management in Education, Vol. Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Re-examining the Critical Success Factors of e-learning from the EU perspective Chih-Cheng Lin* Department of Technology Application and Human Resource Development, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, HePing East Road Section 1, Taipei, Taiwan (106) E-mail: ccl@ntnu.edu.tw *Corresponding author Zheng Ma Department of Marketing and Management, University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Allé 1, Odense M 5230, Denmark E-mail: zema@sam.sdu.dk Robin Chiu-Pin Lin Graduate Institute of e-Learning Technology, National Hsinchu University of Education, 521, Nan-Da Road, Hsin-Chu City, Taiwan E-mail: robinlin@mail.nhcue.edu.tw Abstract: The paper explores the critical factors of the implementation of e-learning in higher institutions from the EU perspective, by comparing e-learning in two cultural contexts: the UK and Taiwan. The study employs qualitative methods to illustrate the e-learning implementation panorama, by interviewing top management groups, leaders and strategic planners, hardware and software experts, instructional designers, participants from different schools, and course participants (including students). This paper summarises the Critical Success Factors (CSF) of e-learning from the EU perspective. An initial framework is developed to present the main differences of e-learning development in the higher institutes in the two cultures examined. Keywords: e-learning; success factor; higher education; EU perspective. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Lin, C-C., Ma, Z. and Lin, R.C-P. (2011) ‘Re-examining the Critical Success Factors of e-learning from the EU perspective’, Int. J. Management in Education, Vol. Biographical notes: Chih-Cheng Lin is a Research Fellow in the National Taiwan Normal University. He received his PhD in management at the University of Nottingham, UK. His research focuses on strategy implementation and innovation process. Earlier, he was working in an education consultancy company. Currently, he is also the Editor of International Symposium on Logistics (ISL) Conference.