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In 2019, the goal of developing a world-class open university through different stages was put forward by the Open University of China (OUC), which indicated that internationalization for Chinese open universities came to the agenda. However, international activities of open universities are different from those in conventional universities, and how to fulfill the goal of internationalization is a main issue faced by educators in Chinese open and distance education arena. This research aimed to identify ways of internationalization for the OUC system.

A survey was employed as a tool to get feedback from target audience. A questionnaire was released to academics, management staff and researchers to the 44 provincial open universities. A total of 501 samples were collected. Among them, 332 were from academics, which accounted for 66.27%, 152 were from school-level directors and 17 were from university-level leaders.

By analyzing the data collected in the survey, the study proposes four recommendations to fulfill the goal of internationalization for Chinese open universities and these include strengthening top-level strategies, building up professional teams, sharing learning resources and delivering upper-level programs.

The targets of this research were all staff at different levels in the central and local institutions; no students were included in the research. Therefore, this did not reflect a picture from the student perspective, and this will be improved in future research.

Since the establishment of the OUC in 1979, there has been no clear and systematic pathways for the development of internationalization of Chinese open universities. This research proposes a theoretical framework of internationalization for open universities and suggests a direction for future development.

This article is the second part of the research on the institutional evaluation of the open universities. The title of the first one was ‘Evaluation Standards for Institutional Evaluation of Open Universities,’ which was presented at the 22nd AAOU Annual Conference, Tianjin, China. In the previous study we discussed the definition of university evaluation and some of the controversial points in the existing evaluation. The focal point was that the existing standards and indexes are not appropriate for Korea National Open University (KNOU) as an open university, and that it is necessary to establish a new evaluating system for the university. We believe it is true of the other open universities throughout Asia and the world. In short, the present research provides the practical and effective data on the evaluation standard. It also includes some new qualitative, quantitative and modified evaluation indexes reflecting the distinctive features of the open universities. The main part of this article elaborates on 5 evaluation domains, 23 evaluation sections, 81 evaluation items and 229 evaluation indexes. These evaluation domains, sections, items and indexes result from the practical surveys and AHP and Swing analyses. The result of this research will prove a good and essential element for ranking indicators in ODE universities. At the end of the paper we add some new standards and indexes for evaluating regional campuses of the open universities, which is another important agenda for upgrading the learner support throughout the country.

With the illustration of a best practice example for an implementation of open access in a scientific institution, the paper will be useful in fostering future open access projects.

The paper starts with a brief overview of the existing situation of open access in Germany. The following report describes the results of a best practice example, added by the analysis of a survey on the position about open access by the scientists at the University of Konstanz.

The dissemination of the advantages of open access publishing is fundamental for the success of implementing open access in a scientific institution. For the University of Konstanz, it is shown that elementary factors of success are an intensive cooperation with the head of the university and a vigorous approach to inform scholars about open access. Also, some more conditions are essential to present a persuasive service: The Library of the University of Konstanz offers an institutional repository as an open access publication platform and hosts open journal systems for open access journals. High‐level support and consultation for open access publishing at all administrative levels is provided. The integration of the local activities into national and international initiatives and projects is pursued for example by the joint operation of the information platform open‐access.net.

The paper offers insights in one of the most innovative open access projects in Germany. The University of Konstanz belongs to the pioneers of the open access movement in Germany and is currently running a successful open access project.

The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 has had a profound impact on education institutions at all levels. Open universities, with their privileged delivery method, have been in an advantageous position. In the earlier stages of the pandemic, they made remarkable contributions to assuring learning continuity. However, with more and more conventional universities migrating online, great changes have taken place in the field of higher education, and it is imperative for open universities to adjust their strategies in order to maintain their leading role in a technology-enabled education context. This paper aims to examine what challenges have been faced by open universities during the pandemic and how they will transform in the future.

Six open universities in Asia, Africa and Europe were selected as cases in this research to make a comparative study based on the papers in the volume beyond distance education [1]. Similarities and differences among the cases were analyzed in order to identify the developing trend for open universities in the international context.

The results showed that (1) open universities in these regions demonstrated their resilience in the pandemic; examples were that new technologies have been leveraged to implement totally online delivery with short notice and huge amount of learning resources were offered to the society. (2) However, they encountered challenges of delivering fully online examination due to the lockdown and quarantine policies, and open universities in African and the sole private institution suffered financial pressure due to improving information and communication technology infrastructure and staff training. Another challenge was the fierce competition from conventional universities that open universities in Asia and Europe came across. (3) Four main areas were identified for future development in order to respond to the challenges: No.1 is that programs such as health care, psychology, epidemiology, virology, immunology, data analytics, biology and bio-informatics have stimulated interest for African open universities to develop in the future; No. 2 is that open universities were seeking to innovate their teaching formats; short courses, such as micro credentials, might be developed as agile and flexible offerings which are expected to be suitable to learners in the pandemic context; No 3 is that programs and courses for upskilling in the context of digitalization will be implemented; and No. 4 is that lifelong learning is given a higher priority in order for open universities to stand securely in the higher education sector.

The study may give open university leaders a quick insight into their future development.

The purpose of this paper is to report on research on the views of Presidents and Vice Chancellors of Open Universities of current threats and opportunities for their institutions as the author marks the 50th anniversary of the first Open University in the UK established in 1969. The paper offers a historical account of the development of the Open University model, and assesses the extent to which it remains in the key position as owner of innovation in the higher education sector.

Interviews were conducted with leaders of Open Universities or distance teaching universities. They covered a total of 14 universities.

The replies from institutional leaders reveal the current developments, opportunities and strategic challenges of the universities. It is suggested that the digital revolution along with a wider range of environmental changes for higher education have substantially eroded the first-mover advantage that Open Universities had undoubtedly enjoyed in the first 25 years.

The paper concludes that there are significant concerns that innovation in Open Universities is not sufficiently embedded to ensure that their contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals will be maximised, or even in some cases their survival, and that a key but undervalued element is leadership development for innovation and change.

This research attempts to reveal ways of addressing challenges in open universities related to empowering lifelong learning; establishing policies and strategies in dropouts, student portfolio and support services for students with special needs; and implementing online instructional design and strategies. Two institutions were investigated, namely National Open University (NOU) Taiwan and Universitas Terbuka (UT) Indonesia, both founded in the 1980s to serve lifelong learners with diverse backgrounds and needs. This study was aimed at understanding good practices and challenges for improvement for the two open universities in those areas being investigated.

This research was qualitative using document analysis along with focus group discussions and interviews with administrators, academic staff, students and alumni to collect data for analysis.

Lifelong learning is the necessity of individual in societies for continuing professional development through enabling access to quality university education. Open universities have been tasked to cater for lifelong learners using non-traditional approaches, new technology and adapting to online learning and teaching in digital age. This research was exploratory, and the findings were expected to improve understanding of lifelong learning in open universities, particularly in NOU and UT.

Findings of this research are relevant to open universities to enhance its missions and define its possible new roles to serve lifelong learners.

This research reveals the roles of open universities in lifelong learning and enhances understanding of open universities that have a wide range of responsibilities in offering programs and courses to accommodate lifelong learners.

In 1974 the University of Newcastle, Australia, established a mature age access programme called the Open Foundation. Since that time, thousands of adults have entered university through the Open Foundation portal. This article explores the layers of context for the establishment of the Open Foundation in the early 1970s. It seeks to understand the reasons why the University of Newcastle, which already provided the means for direct entry for some adults, sought to widen participation for adults at that time by creating a year long pre‐tertiary programme. Pascoe’s explanation that matureage entry schemes in Australian universities were prompted by ‘pragmatic considerations’ such as the disruption to intakes due to the lengthening of secondary schooling in New South Wales in 1969 and the falling demand for university places in the late 1970s and 1980s, does not satisfactorily account for the establishment of the Open Foundation Programme. Rather this article argues that the Open Foundation was set up in response to a variety of international, national and local influences, and as a reflection of educational ideas that were flowing from overseas at the time, especially around the establishment of the Open University in the United Kingdom, and in which not only pragmatism, but also idealism figured.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of what Open Innovation means within university context. Focus is also put on the role universities believe they should play in Open Innovation, as well as the changes that might have arisen as a consequence of universities’ greater awareness of this concept.

The research methodology used is an exploratory study based on in-depth semi-structured interviews of Pro-Vice-Chancellors (or equivalent level) of a variety of British universities. The study was designed around five main research themes: discourse, change, strategy, management, Open Innovation success.

In addition to the traditional teaching, research and knowledge transfer roles of university, this study has uncovered a new role of universities: trusted intermediary (or “Open Innovation Hub”). Another key finding of this study is that it highlights the diversity that prevails in the UK with regard to Open Innovation.

The number of the interviews conducted for this study is probably not large enough to allow a solid generalisation. Data saturation, however, was achieved in this study. The insight provided by this study is particularly significant as interviewees were amongst the highest-ranking executives in their respective universities. Hence the views reported in this study are what “drives” Open Innovation policies in the universities that participated in this study.

This new role of a trusted intermediary played by universities is very likely to change the existing Open Innovation landscape and re-shape policies.

The changing role of universities within Open Innovation context may potentially change the respective role of other stakeholders in the Open Innovation ecosystem.

This is the first study aimed at investigating how British universities understand Open Innovation and what opportunities and challenges they associate with this process.

The Interactive Open Learning Centre and Media Archive at the Open University Library is a collection of OU‐produced audio‐visual materials. The archive is being enhanced by the cross‐campus provision of online access to a showcase of locally‐ and externally‐produced multimedia software, and (as part of Carnegie Mellon University's Informedia project) by the creation of a automatically‐indexed collection of digital OU TV broadcasts. The OU plans to create a digital archive not just of its video materials, but also of its copyright photographs and printed course materials, as it works towards the establishment of a hybrid library.

This study is to develop the standards and indexes for evaluating the open university as an institution. Having successfully taken root in their societies since their launching, Asian open universities now need to further up their teaching and learning system which demands a rigid evaluation and assessment of a university as an institution. For the past ten years, Korea National Open University (KNOU) was evaluated twice by Korean Council for University Education (KCUE), which is in charge of the evaluation of the Korean universities; the result was not so satisfactory. It was because its evaluation standards and indexes were not appropriate for KNOU as an open university. They were primarily for the conventional universities. Thus KNOU needed its own assessment indexes, and this is a research looking for the proper ones for evaluating KNOU within the frame of university evaluation in Korea. Other open universities in Asia also have experienced or will face such problems in terms of the university evaluation. The result of this research will be helpful not only for KNOU but for other Asian open universities preparing for the university evaluation.