This document discusses international distance education and its role in education for development. It provides several examples of partnerships between the Open University UK and institutions in China, the Arab world, and Bangladesh. These examples illustrate the benefits of international collaboration, the blending of learning cultures, and the potential of distance education to reach large numbers of students in a sustainable, culturally-sensitive way. However, it also notes challenges around quality assurance and the diversity of private higher education providers, some of which may be fraudulent. Overall it questions which business models for cross-border education will and should prevail as demand grows.

1. International
distance
education and
education for
development:
aligning the
missions
Professor Alan Tait
The Open University UK

2. A closer look at business
and development models

3. Open University - International
• 22,000 students registering direct with OUUK
• 10,000 students registering through
overseas partners for OUUK degrees
• 40,000 students registering through
overseas partners for partners degrees
• 800,000 students in China using translated OU material

4. Partnership in China
Partnership with School of Distance Learning for medical
education, Peking University: established 2007
• Mental Health & Distress: OU teaching material in
Chinese
• 500 students per year: elective for PKU degree
• Tutoring system: workshops and training
• Staff exchange

5. What do we learn from Peking
University?
• Benefits of international collaboration
• Blending Chinese and western learning cultures
• Evolution of tutorial system

6. The Arab Open University
• 2002: OU UK undergraduate programmes for
Business, IT, English Language & Literature: across
8 Arab countries
• English medium teaching: degrees accredited by OU
under UK Quality Assurance
• Tutoring system: workshops and training
• Course delivery: tutor briefings
• Access for women
• Cultural sensitivity in curriculum
• Staff exchange

7. What do we learn from The Arab
Open University?
• Success of large scale teaching collaboration: 25,000
students; successful graduation rate
• Effectiveness of UK Quality Assurance system:
assessment, external moderation, information systems
• Development model
• Values based intervention with partner

8. English language teaching in
Bangladesh
• Consortium project: OUUK, BBC, Mott McDonald,
Bangladesh government
• Training English language teachers
– Audio material for iPods/iPhones with accompanying
text
– Teaching workshops and structuring
• Measuring impact of mass education: 60 million people

9. What do we learn from
Bangladesh?
• Partnership with national government
• Social and economic development
• Scale
• Reach
• Quality
• Technology

10. Private Higher Education
The success of the Millennium Development Goals in education has created an
unprecedented demand for post-secondary education. Governments have invested
heavily in early childhood and secondary education, resulting in a bulge of qualified
learners and frequently inadequate provision available to meet demand. Demand for
places in higher education far outstrips supply of available seats globally. In many
emerging economies the demand can be 20 to 50 per cent higher than places
available in public institutions.
It is predicted that the demand for higher education worldwide will have expanded
from 97 million students in 2000 to over 262 million students by 2025. It was
estimated that the private education market in 2006 approached US$400 billion
worldwide and that this would continue to grow as the sector matures, particularly in
emerging economies. This figure may well be much higher as it is virtually impossible
to quantify the investment in infrastructure (land, building and construction costs) and
capital costs which private providers invest.
The diversity of PHE providers is immense. There is simply no 'one size fits all'.
Bjarnason S et al. (2009) A New Dynamic: Private Higher Education, UNESCO, Paris

14. University of Phoenix
• 427,700 undergraduate students
• 78000 graduate students
• Graduation rate of 16% over 6 years (against US
Federal average of 55%)
Wikipaedia November 2009

17. Wherever you live, you can now study online for a Masters degree from the University of Liverpool,
one of the UK's most prestigious universities.
Laureate Online Education, the University of Liverpool's exclusive worldwide e-learning partner, has
developed a 100% online learning environment which enables you to fit a Masters degree into your
life and acquire relevant, up to date knowledge to boost your career.
Our students come from more than 175 different countries worldwide. Many are busy professionals
with extensive work experience.
Studying online with the University of Liverpool puts them at the heart of a learning experience that
has successfully delivered educational and career benefits to thousands of professionals across the
world

18. UNESCO on Cross Border Higher
Education 2009
Cross-border provision of higher education can make a significant contribution to higher
education provided it offers quality education, promotes academic values, maintains
relevance and respects the basic principles of dialogue and cooperation, mutual
recognition and respect for human rights, diversity and national sovereignty.
Cross-border higher education can also create opportunities for fraudulent and low-
quality providers of higher education that need to be counteracted. Spurious providers
(‘degree mills’) are a serious problem. Combating ‘degree mills’ requires multi-pronged
efforts at national and international levels.
Extract from Communique from 2009 World Conference on Higher Education: The New
Dynamics of Higher Education and Research For Societal Change and Development
UNESCO, Paris, 5 – 8 July 2009

19. Moving to another country v. local
capacity building
• Movement for the elites: USA, UK and Australia
• Core interest for most trans-national HE
• 2 plus 2 model
• Do the elites return? E.g. China
• Distance and e-learning in-country
• Local capacity building at scale

20. Issues
• One third of HE students in private institutions
• Status of English as world business language
• Private for profit and not for profit
• Education as national cultural capital v GATTS
• Ethical business model?
• Development model?

21. Development model
• Development: values based intervention
• To build capacity
• Give a man a fish and you have fed him for a day: teach
him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
• Financially sustainable
• Perversions of development

22. Business model
• Revenue generating
• For profit and not for profit
• Ethical businesses
• Unethical businesses
• Corporate social responsibility

23. Conclusions and Questions
• HE demand cannot be satisfied by current capacity
• Movement of students cannot provide
dominant mode of access to opportunity
• Cross border distance education will
increase
• Which business models will prevail? Which should
prevail?