The future of Universitas 21, the much-vaunted elite consortium scheme for a global online university, appears to be in serious doubt.
With a deadline for final funding decisions looming, only a handful of Universitas 21's 18 member institutions have committed resources towards sponsorship.
The online teaching venture had been hailed as a trendsetter for higher learning in the 21st century.
Under an agreement with its venture partner, Thomson Learning, U21 must come up with US$25m (£18m) for the e-learning project within the next fortnight if it is to proceed.
The online institution would market graduate courses, especially in the lucrative area of business studies. But a number of members have reportedly become concerned over both the amounts of money that will be required to set the venture in motion as well as procedural issues concerning how their respective crests and logos will be used in any degrees awarded.
To date, only five of the 18 have fully committed themselves to the venture. They are the UK universities of Glasgow and Nottingham and the Australian universities of Melbourne, New South Wales and Queensland.
The University of Auckland, in New Zealand, has said it supports the online university in principle, but is waiting on further details before specifying how much it will contribute.
Another university said last week that its rules do not allow it to contribute financially, while the University of Edinburgh has said it is reconsidering its entire role in the consortium. Last month the University of Toronto withdrew altogether.
U21 - universitas is from the Latin for university, while the "21" represents the new millennium - was formed four years ago at the behest of the three Australian universities looking for new ways to promote international exchanges of students and staff.
Various short-term exchange arrangements between some institutions have since been established, with the eventual aim being to allow transfers with credits between universities for students wishing to take a part of their course in a different country.
Plans for an online university have been seen as a make-or-break test for the network, and a way for it to differentiate itself from the plethora of international university groupings around the world.
U21 was registered in Britain nearly two years ago as a legally incorporated business organisation, with its membership of tech-laden institutions being drawn from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and the United States.
"Our biggest prizes are yet to come," Michael Clarke, pro-vice-chancellor at the University of Birmingham, a constituent institution, commented at the time.
By putting themselves on a global commercial footing in ventures such as e-learning, he said, the member universities would become collectively well-positioned to take advantage of multinational business opportunities "too large for any one individual institution".
Whatever the outcome of the online university, though, U21's future appears to be secure enough for the moment, with at least one leading American institution - the University of Virginia - reportedly set to fill the $25,000-per-year place left vacant by the abrupt departure of Toronto.