Open universities in selected countries
This is the largest university in the world with a total enrolment of 850,000 in 1994. The system includes a central unit that develops and produces course materials, 44 provincial units that also develop and produce such materials, 1,550 education centres at the county or company level, and 30,000 tutorial groups. The education centres have pressured the system to provide more job training, courses of local interest, and continuing education. Although China TV University mostly serves urban residents, there are plans to broadcast some of its programmes more widely, and twenty million farmers have already received "intermediate education of a practical interest" through an associated unit.
India's Indira Gandhi National Open University
The Indira Gandhi National Open University was established to provide high quality distance education and coordinate standards for tertiary distance education throughout India. Since it was established in 1985, the University has become a pioneer in distance education and was the recipient of the Centre of Excellence in Distance Education award from the Commonwealth of Learning in 1993. IGNOU has about 10,00,000 students with extremely varied profiles, spread throughout India. The University has a network of 48 Regional Centres, and state-of-the-art telecommunication systems, that help to reach the hitherto unreached sections of the society.
(See also the MoE's list of Open Universities in India)
In 1987, the government provided start-up funds to open an independent institution dedicated solely to distance education at the tertiary level, the Open Learning Institute of Hong Kong (OLI). OLI was an autonomous organisation whose council included representatives of local universities and overseas distance-learning institutions. Ten years later the Institute was renamed Open University of Hong Kong (OUHK). OUHK provides distance education courses mostly through pre-prepared materials that are mailed to students' homes or workplace. Some courses use television broadcasts. Materials imported from the United Kingdom's Open University were gradually replaced by locally developed courses that better respond to students' needs and cultural specificities. Most material is written in English and Chinese.
Thailand Sukhothai Thammanthirat Open University
Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University in Thailand is committed to lifelong education, the expansion of educational opportunities for secondary school graduates and personnel development. It provides academic degree programmes, short training programmes, and individual courses. 75% of the student population are from rural areas. The university combines printed materials with 1,100 30-minute television broadcasts annually and 150 20-minute radio programmes each week. It also makes extensive use of physical facilities scattered throughout the country, operating 87 Regional and Provincial Study Centres for the orientation of new students, tutorials, and examinations. There are Special Study Centres in government agencies such as hospitals, regional agricultural offices, and government offices that have laboratories and other facilities. The University also has sections in 80 provincial libraries that provide education media support to students. Telephone conversations between students and instructors are common. The University hopes to expand its services with cable television and satellite television broadcasts accompanied by two-way audio links.
Korea National Open University
Founded in 1972 as a branch of the Seoul National University, offering a two-year junior college programme to less than 30,000 students. Initially, the purpose was to provide a two-year college education to high school graduates who were unable to attend a traditional university. But as the demand for higher education grew and conventional colleges and universities were unable to accommodate this demand, a more cost-effective approach was sought resulting in the first national distance teaching college using TV and radio broadcasts. KNOU applies diverse learning systems and educational programmes such as the Internet, on-line, cable TV, EOD (Education on Demand), CD-ROM and radio in its educational programmes.
Providing an excellent and unique new resource for all things Tamil, the "Tamil Virtual University" was created in Chennai, India. Promoting the learning of Tamil, Tamil culture, history and arts by interested students anywhere in the world through the Internet, this is the first of its kind in the world in a language other than English. A digital library, launched on June 18, 2002 on the university's website contains Tamil language learning kits and the syllabi for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. It is divided into three sections - Tamil books from the Sangam age to the post-modern era, dictionaries and a cultural panorama spanning Tamil festivals, arts and Saivite and Vaishnavite shrines. Projects of the University also inlcude "Ponvizhi", an optical character recogniser, the first Tamil software funded by the Tamil Software Development Fund. One of the major motivating forces behind this project is to meet the cultural needs of the Tamil Communities in different parts of the world, helping them to retain contact with their heritage.
University of the Philippines Open University
Established in February 23, 1995, the University of the Philippines - Open University offers masteral and short courses online, providing Filipinos' first taste of e-learning. On their website, information on admissions, registration requirements and faculty members can be accessed, along with programmes on offer, and the professional courses under the Continuing Education Programme. Furthermore, here the potential student can find information about specific programmes of interest from the UPOU staff. A comprehensive on-line library is also provided, offering supporting texts to all the courses on offer.