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Distance Education Equity And Developing Nations Essay

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Distance Education Institutional Models in Developed and Developing Nations:
United Kingdom’s Open University and Indira Gandhi National Open University United Kingdom’s Open University (OU) and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) are both internationally recognized institutions, utilized as examples through their innovative implementation of global engagement in Distance Education (DE) environments. Each institution faces different challenges in relation to their existence within both developed and developing nations respectively. The contents of this paper will discuss how each university’s strategic plan contributes to its institutional model through aligning innovative programming to fit the needs of the unique populations that both serve.
Mission and Population Served OU’s mission as indicated on the university’s website is to be “open to people, places, methods and ideas” (http://www.open.ac.uk/about/main/mission). This mission ties to OU’s initiative to serve diverse individuals across age and culture demographics. OU strives to be a leader in Open Distance Education (ODE) through affordability and accessibility of course offerings. Putting students first is OU’s strategic initiative to ensure a successful online learning environment, thus increasing global enrollment long term. OU’s website states that it serves 173,889 students currently and has served approximately 1.89 million globally since the university’s launch in 1969

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