Mpho-Entle Modise
OMDE 601 Section 9021
July 7, 2013
A comparison between two distance education institutions
Introduction
How different is distance education institutions in developing countries compared to
those in developed countries? In recent years, there has been a tremendous increase in the
popularity of distance education among nations. People and institution across the globe in
growing numbers are all taking advantage of the flexibility and accessibility that distance
education offers.
The purpose of this essay is to compare the University of South Africa (UNISA) with the
British Open University (OUUK). Unisa is based in South Africa, a developing country, while
OUUK is from a developed country of the United Kingdom.
This essay makes a comparison between these two universities on mission and
population served, history and reason for existence, values espoused and inherent to the
institution model of teaching and learning, organization/systems of operation, and technologies
used.
Mission and Population served
The mission of an educational institution is often linked to identified need or needs of a
certain population and ways to meet those needs. Unisa’s mission highlights the efforts of the
institution to “contribute to the knowledge and information society, advance development,
nurture a critical citizenry and ensure global sustainability” (Unisa at a glance, 2012, p.1).
The OUUK state its mission as “open to people, places, methods and ideas” (Open
University, 2013a, The OU Explained).
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Both universities’ mission clearly point out the importance of access and equal
opportunity for all people to learn, and they both emphasize the need for excellent academic
scholarship and research, creativity and innovation.
UNISA’s mission clearly put the needs of its country first, UNISA clearly believes that
open and distance education is the vehicle to fight massive illiteracy, socio-economic, and
political challenges in a developing country. This is also manifested in UNISA’s values which are
founded in the country’s constitution (UNISA Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Policy, 2005,
P.1); values will be discussed in in another section of this essay. OUUK’s mission is not clear as
to who are their primary population is, this is not surprising as the needs, priorities and
aspirations of the two countries are clearly different.
Unisa has more than 350,000 students, in 130 countries globally, 91.5% of which are
from South Africa (UNISA, facts and figures, 2013b). OUUK has more than 240,000 students
worldwide, (Open Unieversity, Facts and figures, 2013b, para 2). The two institutions initially
served mostly adult populations across the globe, and recently also cater for the influx of
younger learners in distance education.
History and reason for existence,
Although the success of an institution cannot be measured by its years of existence, but
history is a unique element that can affect the character of an institution. UNISA operated
initially as an examining body and in 1916, and in 1946 Unisa became the first public university
in the world to teach exclusively by means of distance education through correspondence
(UNISA, the History of Unisa, 2013a, para 2).
The Open University opened to its first students in January 1971, 25,000 students, and it
was the world's first successful distance teaching university (Open University, History of the OU,
2013a, para 6), founded on the belief that communications technology could bring high quality
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degree-level learning to people who had not had the opportunity to attend traditional campus
universities, OUUK also saw numerous milestones, expansion and consolidation over the years.
Unisa’s history extends back from 1873, whereas the OUUK was only established in
1969. Unisa is 140 years old and OUUK is just over 42 years old. According to Silk (1974),
Harichandan (2009), and Daniel & Mackintosh (2003), Unisa is the oldest distance-teaching
institution in the world. Unisa has produced only about 529,000 alumni to date (UNISA,
Celebrating 140 years, 2013), whereas OUUK has produced almost 1.8 million people
worldwide (Open University, 2013b, Facts and Figures, para. 1), and this difference may be
attributed to the extensive use of technology by the OUUK, which increase reach and access.
Both universities serve very diverse population of students and have a rich history. The
difference in the number of output may be attributed to the extensive use of technology for
teaching by OUUK, whereas UNISA has just incorporated technology in their teaching and
learning many years after its establishment.
Values espoused and inherent to the institution
UNISA espouses values formulated in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa:
human dignity, the achievement of equality and social justice, also excellence and integrity. The
OU has developed a set of core values that make it the most distinctive institution in higher
education; inclusive, innovative, and responsive.
Inherent to these values is the institutions’ emphasis on access and learnercenteredness. Although OUUK is more technologically advanced as compared to UNISA,
however both institutions’ values embody lifelong learning open to all, social justice, excellence
and responsiveness to the needs of the underprivileged populations they serve.
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Organization/systems of operation,
An organisation’s operational management and approach allows an organisation to
effectively and efficiently manage and synergizes all the different parts of the organisation,
processes and the overall performance. A system approach is believed to assist distance
equation to evaluate all the parts and the sub-systems, such as curriculum design and delivery,
to be synchronised and improved (Saba, 2012; Haughey, 2010; Miller, 2010).
Both UNISA and OUUK follow the learner-centred approach and team work approach to
development of study material, research and other teaching and learning activities. Both
institutions follow an approach similar to the industrial process in the way they organise their
teaching and learning environments (Peters, 2010), a systems approach.
According to Zhang, et al. (2002) single-mode organisations devote all their teaching
and administrative activities and all funds exclusively to distance education, students use a
system of local and regional study sites and courses are usually designed by course teams.
Therefore both institutions are single-mode organisations.
Model of teaching and learning
Unisa Council has recently adopted a new business model – the Open and Distance and
e-Learning (ODeL). This is after many years of the Status Quo model, which was predominantly
print-based ODL model, with physical printing, warehousing, and distribution of materials; and
the Dual Mode (Print plus online), which also provided print-based and an online learning,
through myUnisa (Baijnath and Makhanya, 2013).
Unlike Unisa, the Open University use broadcasting services extensively as part of its
teaching and learning model, and has partnered with the British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC) to optimize its teaching and learning facilities. OUUK has been using multimedia tools
and invested heavily on technology, they also have been doing business online for many years
(Haughey, 2010), whereas Unisa only started incorporating its multimedia delivery in the late
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1980s and fully digitizing some modules now in 2013, this is an inevitable challenges faced by
distance education institutions in developing countries.
Technologies used
Saba (2012) warns that even though technology is an important part of distance
education, many institutions still delivery ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions to students. In response to
challenges in building shared values and trust, and in coping with asynchronous collaboration
and communication, tools such as wikis, blogs, web portals and groupware are being integrated
in development processes to enhance the productivity and effectiveness of teaching and
learning.
Unisa and OUUK make use of multimedia approach, mixing broadcasting, audio-visual
tools, print, web-based tools, mobile technology, and social media, with the exception of Unisa,
which does not necessarily employ televisions and radio for teaching and learning. This may be
due to the digital divide, socio-economic challenges that are faced by developing countries, and
hence the dependency and use of correspondence facilities in distance education institutions in
these countries. Unisa has a radio station, but it is not being used for further distance education
efforts. The notion of a digital divide in South Africa as a developing country should be
understood against the backdrop of the manifold challenges facing higher education in general,
and particularly higher education in South Africa (Liebenberg, Chetty, and Prinsloo, 2012).
According to Prof Malala, a professor of new media technologies and radio television at
the University of Central Florida (UCF) there are merits of a learning management system (LMS)
that is used as a virtual classroom for teaching, learning and assessment (Kamal, 2013). OUUK
has been doing business online for many, whereas Unisa has just adopted the ODeL model in
2013. Developed countries have an added advantage in the use of virtual technology in
delivering distance education, due to various reasons, including the possibility of more of their
citizens having access to the Internet and other technological devices. Both institutions employ
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various technologies to augment their teaching and learning capabilities, research and
administrative activities.
Conclusion
The comparison between developed and developing countries may seem unfair, but the
fact is that both institution operate in the global market and thus should operate at the expected
standards. Unisa may seem behind when compared with OUUK, especially on the basis of
technology, but it has achieved a lot. However, the comparison is also interesting in that both
universities are the largest and most productive in their respective countries.
The issue of digital divide in developing countries should be understood against the
backdrop of the manifold challenges facing higher education in general, and particularly
distance education institutions in Africa.
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