The author describes the Research and Training Center at Lahti (Finland): its general task, its goals, and its organization. The center's main projects are examined: open university studies, supplementary professional education, employment oriented training, extension projects, international cooperation, and research activities. Financing of the…

Discusses process of continuous assessment that involves many tutors grading papers at Great Britain's Open University and the problem of grade unreliability within such a system. A longitudinal experiment involving grading of papers in one course by all tutors and comparing their grades to determine grading reliability is described. (MBR)

A study of the need for graduate student supervision in Britain's Open University examined student characteristics, reasons for choosing the program, the roles of the internal (campus-based) and external (local) supervisors, student attitudes and needs, the need for written reports, admission criteria, and other, related program administration…

Presents results of a market research survey conducted by Athabasca University to determine interest in a natural resources planning and management home study degree program. Responses related to employment prospects, usefulness for professional development, home-study options, degree offerings, proposed program design, and format of proposed…

Recent European and American influences have created a more complex and heterogeneous Brazilian higher education system, with institutions reflecting a broader range of cultural borrowings and a coexistence of ideas and trends that gradually lose their foreign identity. (MSE)

The at-risk and dropout student population at the Open University was examined in a student survey. This article deals with a descriptive model of progress and withdrawal, student motivation, stages of adult development, previous educational background, interplay of characteristics and circumstances, and educational self-concept. (LBH)

Through further implementation of distance education, Chinese Taipei may both continue and increase its economic development. The benefits of lifelong learning have been demonstrated in the past 30 years by the economic growth and labor force skills development in Chinese Taipei. The founding of the National Open University, in 1986, with its…

This document contains five papers examining evaluation concepts and practice in selected distance education (DE) institutions. "Preface" (Harish Rathore, Rudolf Schuemer) defines evaluation in DE and provides an overview of the evaluation philosophies, agendas, and methodologies discussed in the five papers. "Evaluation Practices at the Indira…

Economics and mass higher education have become firmly coupled not only in the minds of distance educators but also in those of policy makers, politicians, educational economists, and social scientists. These conference proceedings add to the knowledge and experience of colleagues from around the world who address the topics of cost effectiveness,…

This book reports on the expansion of open and distance learning during the past decade, examining ways in which open and distance learning for higher education has responded to the needs of the new society, and summarizing the lessons of recent practice for policymakers and educators. After an introductory chapter, "Open and Distance…

In 1996, the Virtual University (VU) started as an online learning project at the University of Hagen (Germany) with a few courses and a small number of users. Today the VU has grown into a large learning platform with a student community of more than 10,000 and more than 200 learning events online. This paper describes some of the experiences…

This paper outlines a specific distance education solution to a condition of teacher shortage involving the collaboration of two major institutions of higher education in two countries: the Open University of the United Kingdom and the California State University System of California, United States. The paper explores global challenges facing…

A mail survey of nonaccepters of places in Britain's Open University showed the major reasons for declining were financial problems, time commitment, effects on family life, other family or personal changes, increased work responsibilities, moving, unemployment, and necessity of studying another field for work. (MSE)

A program designed to educate Open University students in Yorkshire in the use of videotape equipment for their extension courses has resulted in an unusually high rate of equipment use, especially among advanced students. Probable success factors are outlined. (MSE)

From 1974 to 1982, the University of Mid-America, modeled on the Open University of Great Britain, tried to give adults new access to higher education. Its successes and failures are discussed by its president and vice-president. (MLW)