Book review: Handbook of Open Universities Around the World

Mishra, S. and Panda, S. (eds.) (2025) Handbook of Open Universities Around the World New York: Routledge, 692 pp.

Who are the authors?

Sanjaya Mishra is a specialist in technology-enabled learning at the Commonwealth of Learning and a leading scholar in open, distance and online learning.

Prof Santosh Panda is the former Director of the Staff Training & Research Institute of Distance Education (STRIDE) and the Malviya Mission Teacher Training Centre(MMTTC) at the Indira Gandhi National Open University.

What is the book about?

From the editors’ own words:

‘A single, authoritative work on the operation and futures of open universities around the world.’

‘What is the status of OUs today in their contribution to quality mass higher and further education and to social and national developments?’

‘What future is visualized for the open university system in general and, and individual OUs, in terms of their viability, contributions, sustainability and innovation?’

[Open universities]… are today facing significant challenges as the demand for education continues to grow and more conventional education providers are now offering online and flexible education opportunities. What are the main challenges  and opportunities for OUs in the near future and in the long term? What could other institutions learn from the experiences of the OUs in shaping their flexible learning operations?

What is in the book?

Introduction The quotations above are from the introduction by the two editors, who provide a rationale for the book in this introduction.

Section I General Overviews: four chapters by different authors providing general overviews of open universities.

Section II:  Open Universities in Africa and Arab Countries: 9 chapters: one regional overview and chapters on 8 different open universities in the region (including Israel)

Section III: Open universities in the Americas: 5 chapters: one regional overview and chapters on 4 open universities in the region (but none in the USA)

Section IV: Open Universities in Asian Countries:  28 chapters: two regional overviews, and chapters on 26 different open universities in the region, including 10 in India and 4 in China

Section V: Open Universities in Europe: 10 chapters: one regional overview, and chapters on nine different open universities in the region (including Turkey)

Section VI: Concluding overview: one chapter, by the editors.

Key takeaways

This is a most comprehensive coverage of the state of open universities world-wide at the present time. As well as many excellent overall and regional overviews, the book contains detailed analysis of 47 open universities from around the world, from an initial list of 78.

At the end of the book, the editors (Mishra and Panda) provide their own overview, as follows.

Defining features of open universities

The editors define open universities by the following features:

• economies of scale
• social justice
• high quality of course materials
• technology-mediated education
• learner support

Key operational features of open universities:

• planning and management with a systemic approach to course design and development
• an industrialisation model of teaching and learning with division of labour between design and delivery
• material production and delivery, involving a range of different specialist
• robust and reliable technology systems
• a wide range of student support services
• formal quality assurance processes
• regular staff development with training for  faculty focused on distance education theory and practice

Status and trends

The editors note that the term ‘open university’ covers a wide range of institutions and organisational arrangements. Some of those on their initial list are more dual-mode institutions but not necessarily open to all, and others are cyber or online universities, often private for-profit. Thus the editors see ‘genuine’ open universities are those created largely by the state for the common good. 

The editors also noted that some formerly highly successful open universities are now struggling, for a variety of different reasons in different countries: declining enrolments as conventional universities expand; concern over low completion rates; financial difficulties due to declining state funding.

However, the editors conclude that despite all their challenges, open universities are a much-needed entity to provide increased access to learning opportunities for all.

Personal comments

This book is essential reading for anyone with an interest in open learning and in increasing access to higher education. My only caveat is that it uses 20th century technology: print. At nearly 700 pages it makes a good door-stop but it would have been much more accessible as an online publication. Nevertheless it is an impressive scholarly work.

Successful but inferior?

Despite the huge success of open universities in many countries, I think there is  a bit of an inferiority complex still lingering, at least in the public mind. They are a good alternative for those who can’t get into a regular university, but….

The fact is that open universities have opened up opportunities for millions who would have otherwise been deprived of further and higher education. Having worked in both conventional and open institutions, I can say unreservedly that the quality of teaching in general is much higher in most open universities, because of their focus on research-based instructional design, and deliberately designed student support. In general, open universities are not better or worse than conventional universities – they are just different, and serve a different target group – older, working adults, or students who cannot access conventional universities because there are not enough places. Online learning in conventional universities is increasingly pushing into that market, but there are still millions who need the more open access that conventional universities with prerequisite entry qualifications cannot and will not provide.

Are OUs still relevant?

In this book, Tait argues that today, the core purpose of open universities is to innovate, to regain their advantage as ‘first movers’ in open and distance learning: ‘acts of imagination of an ambition with those of half a century ago are once again needed.’ Both Tait and Daniel emphasise the importance of successful student graduate completion for open universities, and the need to reach those that more conventional HE institutions are not serving or able to serve. They both emphasise that increased flexibility through digital technologies is not the same as open access to underserved learners.

Also in the book, Junhong Xiao and several other authors argues that to survive, OUs need to focus, innovatively, on Lord Crowther’s four elements of openness:

• open to people
• open to places
• open to methods
• open to ideas.

Open universities are still highly relevant today. However, they need to continue to innovate, to adapt their teaching methods and support systems, as technology and subject demand changes. Above all, they need to find ways to increase their completion rates, while acknowledging that everyone does not want or need a full degree. This means adopting more flexible qualifications such as micro-credentials, incorporating prior learning assessment from other institutions, and flexible transfer of credits from (and to) other institutions, as well as staying on top of new technological developments, especially AI.

The main challenges are complacency from past success, the drag of legacy infrastructure, and the need for flexible management to meet the challenge of an ever-changing external environment. It is important that open universities meet these challenges, as they are still much needed.

Over to you

Do you think open universities are still relevant – or are they so 20th century? Please use the comment box at the end of this post – or if you wish to remain anonymous, please send me an email at tony.bates@ubc.ca