Ian, these courses have been talked about for many years and as technology has improved it is becoming more and more feasible. One of my academic societies supports the idea. There are two obstacles. The first is the problem caused by those who advertise a degree with no study, a BA next week, an MBA in two weeks or a PhD next month (one says without a thesis even). They have undermined the credibility of online courses of any kind. To complete any degree involves being taught, writing essays, papers, doing exams and so on, although some universities vary within countries even. Certainly, and I have taught on several, MA, MSc and a lot of other Master degrees are sausage machine jobs, sad to say. One year with scarce a moment to actually learn much. I think the universities offering MPhils have so far avoided this, but they too seem to be on the slippery slopes. No doctorate can be taught. There may be a pre-fieldwork/laboratory/libraries/etc year but the actual research year(s) are part of the degree and writing a supervised thesis takes a year at least. I have written two, the first took roughly a year and the second which was actually for a DPhil took nearly two years (I did not make the grade and received a second PhD, poouf).
Subject modules, OK that is now the norm, quizzes are a strange notion though and I cannot see how they would work, tests are flexible but if they are marked/assessed and by more than one examiner, then by all standards they are exams or contribute to a complete exam. Peer graded assignments, American idea, is not popular this side of the pond. Normally marking/grading can only be done by those at least a degree higher than the graduand. It will be interesting to see your feedback. I am not saying it does not work, nor am I sceptical but back to where I began with this point and the perception of degrees outside of a campus of any kind, even the OU has one after all and everybody who does one of their degrees finds themself there at some time or other. PhDs are campus based even, although the research year is off site.
Reason two is tricky. Validation of degrees. Here in Europe we have the EQF (European Qualification Network) and all qualifications from roughly speaking a completed apprenticeship upward are valid across countries. So that whatever X says here in France, a UK degree is valid in France, end of argument. A printout of the EQF regulations and page that shows which countries have ratified ends any debates there. However, degrees offered by partner universities that include non-European ones (USA for instance) are hard to validate anywhere now. US degrees in themselves are difficult to validate anywhere in Europe as of a handful of years and also their degrees are not always validated from one state to another. So that more than one provider makes it tricky. Even an English and Scots university have different values attached to degrees given that historically their degree system has always finished at MA/MSc level after a four year study that includes BA/BSc/BEcons or whatever compared to Engalnd and Wales with three years to Bachelor degrees. It will be interesting to see the pros and cons of validation and whether they will also ever be accepted. back to point one, the organisations offering degrees with no study, etc have put a couple of nails in the coffin of what you are describing for some academic bodies anyway.
Also Ian, do not refer to the courses as 'training', universities offer degrees by study. Whilst some offer instruction in practical areas such as in engineering and the sciences, the onus is on the student to learn and be academically examined on their knowledge rather than skills. If the courses say they are training you then worry, it is non-academic language.
Give it a whirl, do not get tricked into investing too much money though. Bottom line is that even real universities are out to make money, but anybody who appears to be bona fide is doing that with nothing back at the end. Find out, if possible, about the list of 'providers' and whether they really are involved because I could put up an ad on the Internet claiming to be the sole representative of the University of Mars and who could disprove it too easily?