Offering education by distance provides an important sociological tool for equalising opportunities in developed nations. However, for developing nations and more particularly some of the least-developed countries in the world, it has the potential to play a much larger role in providing both basic and advanced educational opportunities and,…

The aim of online universities is to increase learning accessibility for all students. After some years of existence, online higher education should be analysed in terms of its preparedness to meet the learning needs of people with disabilities. This paper presents a study that sheds light on the level of readiness of online higher education…

We have examined the sustainability of providing services for students with disabilities in higher education in Canada and Israel. The two countries differ in their approaches: Israel subscribes to the accommodations model of service delivery; Canada, to the universal design approach. Case examples of services to students with disabilities in…

A survey of new and continuing undergraduate students was undertaken at the end of 1986 to obtain information on the related issues of costs of studying and access to equipment for study purposes. Questionnaires were sent to a sample of 2,400 students at the Open University (OU)--1,200 students taking their first OU course and 1,200 continuing…

The Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) and an 'in-house' questionnaire, the Personal and Educational Development Inventory (PEDI), were administered in a postal survey of graduates who had been awarded the first BA/BSc (Hons) named degrees of the Open University and comparison samples of graduates awarded the pre-existing 'unnamed' degrees. The…

This study investigated the characteristics of undergraduate students in Anadolu University's Open Education Faculty (OEF) courses in economics and business administration who successfully completed their bachelor's degrees in exactly 4 school years. Data on the personal and social characteristics of students who completed the bachelor's degree…

The Board of Examination of the Department of Economics at the FernUniversitat commissioned a survey of 315 students who had graduated in economics to gain insights into their experiences both at the FernUniversitat and after completing their studies. A written questionnaire was developed and sent to all of the graduates who had finished their…

This report begins by briefly reviewing actions that have been taken since the idea of an Open University in Tanzania was first proposed in the late 1970s. The main body of the report begins with a discussion of the role of media technology in an open university with emphasis on delivery and support systems. The current situation in Tanzania is…

A model is presented for response to evaluating instruction in a university based on the teaching-at-a-distance concept. Technically appropriate and operationally viable, this model is applied to the National Open University of Venezuela (UNA). The model is based on two principles of educational evaluation: (1) the concept of evaluation as a…

This study sought to evaluate the goals and functions of practical tests for undergraduate students in the natural sciences in university distance education (DUE) programs in the Netherlands, and to compare the findings with results from similar research conducted in regard to science practicals at the Open University of the Netherlands (OuN) and…

The image and reputation of General College (GC) of the University of Minnesota was studied in 1981 through telephone interviews of 619 students, faculty, and counselors. Eighty-six percent of GC students, 87 percent of the university counselors, and 63 percent of high school counselors rated GC as very important. Seventy-seven percent of GC…

This 1995 federal survey designed to provide the first nationally representative data about higher education distance education course offerings. Data were collected in fall 1995 from 2-year and 4-year higher education institutions and were weighted to provide national estimates. The study includes information about the percentage of institutions…