Essay Assignment 2: Open University UK vs. University of South Africa

     The establishment of the British Open University (OU) in 1969 was the first step towards the third wave of extramural studies. The unique innovative and mixed-media approach to teaching was incomparable to any other university, although the oldest distance education university, University of South Africa was considered a forerunner of some learning at a distance facilities (Tutt, 2013). In this assignment we will compare the mission, population served, history, organization, and system of both universities to establish significant differences in teaching and learning of distance education.
     University of South Africa, UNISA, is the largest University in South Africa, and it is one of the eleven mega-distance teaching Universities in the world. It was established in 1873 as the University of the Cape of Good Hope and changed its name to the University of South Africa in 1916. Since then, several colleges within the UNISA became autonomous, and by 1946 the University pioneered tertiary distance education, which was the very beginning of it as it is known today. Due to political history and the legacy of the apartheid years, the foundation of UNISA as a distance education university has played an essential role in giving access to higher quality education to previously disadvantaged groups. Later, the UNISA offered Masters level education utilizing a combination of distance and part-time forms, what is often called hybrid classes nowadays (“Graduate School of Business Leadership: History”).

Essay Assignment 2: Open University UK vs. University of South Africa