In England there is a national survey of all students just before they graduate from bachelor's programmes called the National Student Survey (NSS). This produces a very influential ranking of all universities and colleges in England in terms of how the education they provide is perceived by their students. Top of this ranking every year is the Open University UK--well ahead of prestigious universities that are ranked many hundreds of places higher on world rankings. The author states that somehow, the Open University UK must be embodying fundamental educational principles very effectively despite being a distance learning organisation. In this article, the author examines what these educational principles are, and discusses how applicable and effective they are to open and distance learning programmes.