Open University

Related Category: Colleges, International

headquartered at Milton Keynes, England; founded 1969 as the Univ. of the Air. In 1971 a distance learning program was begun that consists of correspondence courses integrated with television and radio broadcasts, residential summer schools, and a counseling and tutorial service that operates through a network of regional offices and local study centers. Students (over 160,000) are usually over 21, working full-time, and studying in their spare time. The university has faculties of arts, education, management, mathematics, science, social sciences, and technology. It has served as the prototype for similar programs throughout the world.