Describes the West Germany "Fernuniversitaet," an innovative distance education university. Organization, governance, enrollment, course content, and research activities are discussed. (SK)

Learn and Shop, a concept of offering university credit courses by university faculty in shopping centers which was developed by Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, is described. The Learn and Shop curriculum permits individuals to earn a two-year associate degree in liberal arts entirely at shopping centers. (MLW)

Within broad guidelines provided by the Community College of Vermont (CCV), associate degree students write their own individualized, competence-based contracts. Development of the contract includes both assessment of prior learning, and planning for sponsored learning: These are integrated through a "degree development sequence" which includes a…

University education should be more widely available to people who are older and less traditionally qualified than the matriculated, predominantly middle-class students of most universities. Two institutions with open admissions policies, the British Open University and the University of Paris Vincennes, are discussed. (MLW)

Basic issues of change in higher education throughout the world and examples of innovations are discussed, based on the 1978 World Conference on Innovations in Higher Education. The following problem areas are addressed: access to higher education, the relevance of studies, flexibility and change within institutions, and efficiency and cost. About…

This case study describes the introduction and consideration of a state board staff proposal that the more traditional Minnesota State Universities adopt external degree programs. A model for making practices congruent with policy decisions is presented. The process of examining the external degree proposal, beginning with the state board actions…

The Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities (UECU) was developed as an alternative form of postsecondary education, fostering the development of university without walls programs at a number of institutions and initiating its own undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Its commitment is to personalized, self-directed, lifelong…

Through a combination of prior coursework, contract learning, credit for experience, standardized tests, and other methods of evaluating prior learning, the Empire State College (New York) allows adults to complete undergraduate degree requirements. The nonresidential institution serves students throughout the state, with faculty in over 40…