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Open and Distance eLearning in Asia: Country Initiatives
and Institutional Cooperation for the Transformation
of Higher Education in the Region
Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria
University of the Philippines Open University, Philippines
Abstract: This paper is an attempt to describe the situation of higher education in Asia including
the challenges it faced as well as the open and distance elearning initiatives by different countries
and universities. Data gathering was done through review of online documents and websites as
well as documentation of the different initiatives especially by the member institutions of the Asian
Association of Open Universities (AAOU). Descriptions of open education practices on MOOcs,
OERs, and open access publications were presented and their potential to transform higher
education in the region was discussed. Challenges encountered in the implementation of ODeL
programs were articulated as well as some suggestions on how to address them.
Keywords: open distance elearning (ODeL); Asia; higher education; MOOCs; open universities;
open education practices
Introduction
Asia consists of 48 countries, 36 of which had been specifically classified as developing countries
based on World Bank Country Classificationsi. The region is home to about 60% of the world’s
population and ranks first among the regions of the world in terms of population. The population
medianii age is 30.7. During the last 10 years, enrolment in higher education in Asia has been
observed to increase by over 50% (Mok, 2016). Dunrong (2015), on the other hand, also observed that
“Ongoing population growth in many developing countries of the region leads to a steady increase in
the number of young people. At the same time, the demand for higher education continues to
expand” (p. 14).
This growth in the population and the demand for higher education in Asia is coupled with the
projection that “… the 21st century will be the Asian century” (Mahbubani and Chye (2015) as cited
by ICEF Monitor, 2015) which, as these authors also said “is overdue and inevitable”.
UNESCO (UNESCO, 1988 as cited by Songkaeo, and Yeong, 2016) defines higher education as:
…all types of education (academic, professional, technical, artistic, pedagogical, long
distance learning, etc.) provided by universities, technological institutes, teacher training
colleges, etc., which are normally intended for students having completed a secondary
education, and whose educational objective is the acquisition of a title, a grade,
certificate, or diploma of higher education. (p. 3)
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This definition mirrors how the different cultures in Asia see higher education, which can also explain
the surge in the demand for access accompanying the increase in the age group who should be
availing themselves of higher education: a goal and the means to success. This is very much reflected
in the statements below by Breitenstein (2013):
… the difference between Asian and American education systems is cultural.
Throughout much of Asia, education is seen as the only path to success. Parental
demands, fear of failure, competition, and pride are fueling Asia’s academic ascension.
Simply put, children in Asia study with a purpose.
Elaborating on the role of education, Breitenstein (2013), further said that education is the “driver of
social mobility” which implies economic success as well.
The role of higher education in national development has been widely recognized, especially in terms
of teacher training to improve the quality of education and graduates who will man and run the
industries, govern the nation, and push forward innovations through research and creative thinking
(Asian Development Bank, 2011).
This paper aims to 1) describe the challenges faced by higher education in Asia; 2) discuss the
different open distance elearning (ODeL) initiatives by the different countries and universities; and 3.
draw insights on how the ODeL initiatives can pave the way for higher education transformation in
the region.
Data and information presented in this paper were gathered though a combination of the following
methodologies: content review of relevant documents, resources and previous studies made available
online including websites of organizations; and process documentation of the various initiatives by
the members of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU).
Discussion
Higher Education in Asia in the 21st Century
Higher education in Asia faces a lot of challenges especially in the 21st Century. Some of these
challenges are as follows:
1. Projected education needs worldwide and in the region
In addition to what has already been observed during the last 10 years or so, there has been and there
will continue to be a tremendous increase in the demand for higher education in the coming years. In
2018, 9.4% of the Asian population are in the age range of 15-24, the age profile who are and who
should be in higher or tertiary education. The number is projected to increase steadily over the next
years to 14.4% of the total population by 2030 iii This projection implies the population sector which
should be provided higher education opportunities in the region.
This was further emphasized by the International Council on Open and Distance Education (ICDE)
(2015) which highlighted the need to respond to the recognized education needs globally, of which,
Asia, as the biggest region in terms of population needs to consider as well in addition to its
responsibility to contribute to the global agenda. ICDE noted the need to shape the post-2015 agenda
and address the issues of “access, equity and quality learning outcomes” and respond to the burgeoning
number of students enrolling in higher education, which is projected to be more than 400 million by
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2030.iv This implies a projection of almost 58 million to be catered to by Asian higher education
institutions, which number about 6580. v There is, therefore, this question of whether these higher
education institutions will be able to accommodate the projected increase in enrollment following the
current system of delivering instructional content, especially in brick and mortar settings.
2. Rapidly changing work environment, the rapidly changing skills requirements by the industry
and the need for strong academia-industry partnership
It is often said that we are now at the 4th Industrial Revolution or a technological revolution whose
“scale, scope and complexity will result in transformation that will be unlike anything humankind has
experienced before” (Schwab, 2016). Schwab (2015) described the 4th Industrial Revolution as follows:
Neither technology nor the disruption that comes with it is an exogenous force over which
humans have no control. All of us are responsible for guiding its evolution, in the
decisions we make on a daily basis as citizens, consumers, and investors. We should thus
grasp the opportunity and power we have to shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution and
direct it toward a future that reflects our common objectives and values.
To do this, however, we must develop a comprehensive and globally shared view of how
technology is affecting our lives and reshaping our economic, social, cultural, and human
environments. There has never been a time of greater promise, or one of greater potential
peril. Today’s decision-makers, however, are too often trapped in traditional, linear
thinking, or too absorbed by the multiple crises demanding their attention, to think
strategically about the forces of disruption and innovation shaping our future.
In the end, it all comes down to people and values. We need to shape a future that works
for all of us by putting people first and empowering them.
This characterization of the 4th Industrial Revolution has implications on how higher education should
respond in terms of the skills and talent of graduates it will produce and how the higher education
system should work with other stakeholders.
Specific for Asia, it has been projected that by 2050, “the world will see a dramatic shift in global
economic power away from advanced countries and toward Asia” (ICEF Monitor, 2015). Bhandari
(2015 as cited by ICEF Monitor (2015)) further argues that the dynamics in economic growth is
“reflected in the landscape of higher education…. especially at a time when economic growth in many
rapidly developing Asian economies is linked to knowledge production, advanced skills, and the
rising demand for higher education.”
One aspect of higher education transformation is in terms of the relevance of curriculum and
instruction (ADB, 2011) to the current context of industry which further implies the need for a strong
academia-industry partnership. Higher education institutions cannot isolate themselves from the real
world of work which will be the destination of their graduates.
3. Student mobility
It is no longer unusual to hear of tertiary students needing to relocate or change home base, especially
in Asia where the workforce can easily transfer from one country to the other.
Yung Chi Hou et al. (2017), observed that “student mobility within Asia has been driven and
encouraged due to economic growth, national competitiveness, and regional development in the early
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twenty-first century. One manifestation of the trend is a significant increase in the number of students
moving within and amongst Asian campuses, such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries” (p. 12).
Higher-education institutions should be able to address the concern of students transferring from one
country to the other, usually as a result of their parents transferring residences as a result of the
demand for work.
4. Redefining 21st Century skills
Skills for the 21st Century skills has become a buzz phrase, especially among academic institutions, in
their efforts to respond to the fast-changing needs of life and work environments. However, a deeper
look into these skills and what exactly are needed in the 21st Century points to the need to include
ethical values, digital citizenship, independent learning, a sense of responsibility, effective time
management and an integrated way of learning.
5. Massification of higher education impacting on the quality of instruction
With the belief that increasing higher education enrolment would “improve the quality of the
population and enhance national competitiveness in the globalizing world” massification of higher
education in Asia has been observed from the 1980s onwards (Mok & Jiang, 2016). This massification,
however, impacts on the quality of education, given the limited funding and resources allotted to
education especially among the developing nations. This limited funding affects school facilities and
learning materials, as well as teachers’ qualifications and credentials which should be continuously
improved through continuing professional development.
6. Equity of access and learning outcomes
Together with the concern of making higher education accessible, the equity of learning outcomes
should also be ensured. Every learner should have an equal opportunity to learn what is being
taught and achieve the learning goals set for each of the courses that he/she has enrolled in. This can
be a function of access to quality learning materials and relevant resources and activities associated
with learning and the applications of such learnings even after the completion of formal education.
7. Social responsibility
The role of higher education institutions is not confined within its bricks and mortar structure. They
have and should practice social responsibility not only to their direct stakeholders (students and
parents) but also to the community where they are operating and society in general or what is now
known as University Social Responsibility (USR), an adaptation of Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR). Reiser (2008 as cited by Vasilescu, et. al., 2010) defines the USR concept as “a policy of ethical
quality of the performance of the university community (students, faculty and administrative
employees) via the responsible management of the educational, cognitive, labour and environmental
impacts produced by the university, in an interactive dialogue with society to promote a sustainable
human development” (p. 4178).
8. Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Education should not operate in silos. While there is a specific mission attached to educational
institutions, they should also function with consideration of what is happening with the rest of the
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world. The role of education in achieving the SDGs should be recognized given that education,
especially open education, should be at the core of each SDG. Results of a survey conducted by
UNESCO (2017) show that:
… universities increasingly collaborate on sustainable development issues, engage with
sustainable development networks and look for examples on how [they] can integrate the
different SDGs into the curriculum, research, campus management, etc.
This action has become part of the expectation for universities to which they should also respond.
Open and Distance eLearning (ODeL) in Asia
Most open and distance eLearning initiatives in Asia are undertaken by open universities operating in
the region. Jones, et. al. (2009), in an attempt to define or describe an open university, offered the
following:
…open universities are political institutions concerned with broad issues that the higher
education system cannot or will not deal with; such as building capacity, individual
opportunity and social justice; encouraging change in the higher education system and
nation-building. If these are the broad aims then each particular Open University also has
its own mission related to the local political and social context in which it works. (p. 2)
Most open universities offer their programmes and courses in the distance education mode, which is
characterised by the geographical separation of learners from the teachers and the university. This
mode of instructional delivery further enhanced the capability of open universities to practice open
learning and be more inclusive and accessible compared to conventional or residential universities.
The geographical separation is bridged by using technology in the delivery of instructional services as
well as learner support. In Asia, more than 70 institutions offer programs in the distance education
mode of instruction. These institutions are present in about 20 countries and are either operating as
stand-alone universities or as part of a conventional academic institution. Further, these
institutions/universities operate at a wide range of scales/levels. Likewise, their systems of operations
vary in terms of how instruction is delivered to the students from residential open university to fully
online or distance eLearning operations. Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) in India which is
considered to be the world’s largest university, for instance, boasts of over three million students as of
2017 (Noronha, 2017). The University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) has only just over
4,000 students enrolled in its degree programmes but is operating in a full distance eLearning mode.
In addition to IGNOU, seven other mega open universities are operating in Asia. Table 1 shows the
mega open universities in the region and their respective enrollment figures.
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Table 1. Mega open universities in Asia and their enrollment figuresvi
Institution Country Founded Enrollment
Indira Gandhi National Open University Delhi, India 1985 4,000,000+
Anadolu University Eskisehir, Turkey 1958 1,974,343
Allama Iqbal Open University Islamabad, ICT, Pakistan 1974 1,326,948
Payame Noor University Tehran, Iran 1987 800,000
Bangladesh Open University Gazipur, Bangladesh 1992 650,000
Dr. B R Ambedkar Open University Telangana, India 1982 450,000
Universitas Terbuka Jakarta, Indonesia 1984 300,000
Korea National Open University South Korea 1972 210,978
All these open universities are members of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) and
are part of this big network with members collaborating to push the frontier of distance education and
open learning in the region.
Regional Cooperation Among Open Universities in Asia
1. AAOU Inter-University Staff Exchange Fellowship Programme. Established in 1997, this
programme aims to foster the exchange of knowledge and experience in open and distance
education and to enhance the capacities of member institutions through mutual assistance and
partnership. Any AAOU member institution (the donor) may contribute to the programme by
offering one or more short-term fellowship(s) to staff from other member institutions (the
recipients) to spend up to one month at the donor institution in order to receive training, carry
out an academic exchange or undertake a collaborative research project. This programme also
allows staff of participating institutions to observe and be immersed with the operations of
other open universities, view their facilities, and see how they are operating and being
managed. All member institutions are welcome to participate in this capacity-building
initiativevii . Some member institutions participating in this programme are: Sukhothai
Thammathirat Open University (STOU), Korea National Open University (KNOU), Shanghai
Open University (SOU), University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), Universitas
Terbuka (UT), Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL), and Wawasan Open University (WOU).
This programme often results in research collaborations, joint publications, and seminar series,
among other benefits.
2. Curricular Program/Course Development. Five open universities in Asia worked together
and provided a model of collaboration for the purpose of developing a curricular program that
is of interest to all participating universities. The five open universities, who adopted the
name OU5, are UPOU, UT, STOU, Open University Malaysia (OUM), and Hanoi Open
University (HOU). They worked together to develop the curriculum and learning modules for
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the ASEAN Studies programme. This collaboration resulted in the development and offering
of the Graduate Certificate in ASEAN Studies and Master in ASEAN Studies by UPOU.
3. Research Collaborations. In addition to the usual research collaboration being undertaken
under the AAOU Inter-University Staff Exchange Fellowship Programme, other research
collaborations among AAOU member institutions include ASEAN studies like labor migration
and institutional research focusing on the various aspects of distance education
implementation and open-learning initiatives. Some of the collaborative research undertaken
include a DE learners’ importance-satisfaction survey, which looked into what DE components
are considered important by DE learners and how satisfied those learners are with how these
factors are being implemented by the academic institution where they are enrolled, employers’
satisfaction with the performance of DE graduates in their companies, attrition in DE, and
assessment practices in DE. Cross-country comparisons were done in these studies to come up
with regional perspectives on these various aspects of implementing distance education
programs. Current research collaborations tackle perception of quality and the credit transfer
of MOOCs and a feasibility study on the implementation of accreditation system for open
universities in the region.
4. Knowledge Exchange through Academic Conferences. Exchange of research results and best
practices among open universities in the region is facilitated through the holding of academic
conferences, as a group of open universities, through the AAOU Annual Conferences. Many
open universities also hold international conferences which are supported by, or participated
in, by other open universities, e.g. the International Conference on Open and Innovative
Education organized annually by Hong Kong Open University, and the International
Conference on Open and Distance eLearning by the UP Open University or jointly, like the
International Conference on Scientific Research: Human Resource Development, which was
organized by HOU and STOU in 2015 and which was supported by other open universities in
the region.
Open Education Initiatives in Asia
The Cape Town Declaration on Open Educationviii in 2007 described open education as “not limited to
just open educational resources. It also draws upon open technologies that facilitate collaborative, flexible
learning and the open sharing of teaching practices that empower educators to benefit from the best ideas of their
colleagues. It may also grow to include new approaches to assessment, accreditation and collaborative learning”.
Opensource.comix added that “proponents of open education believe everyone in the world should have access
to high quality educational experiences and resources”.
Open universities, the way most of them are operating in Asia, unfortunately, are not totally open in
the sense of the definition of open education. Many still require payment of tuition fees from the
students themselves or through some form of scholarship, and have admission requirements,
qualifications, or some schedules to follow in an academic or school year which serve as barriers to
education and learning for many. In recent years, many open universities in Asia adopted various
forms of open education:
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1. Offering of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The offering of MOOCs also found its
way into many Asian countries with the involvement of both residential and open universities.
Many initiatives started as far back as 2013, the year considered to be “Anti-MOOC” with what
Watters (2013) described as “sliding down that Gartner Hype Cycle from the “Peak of Inflated
Expectations” and into the “Trough of Disillusionment”. This indicates that in the region,
MOOCs present much potential in terms of what they can offer to address the various
challenges faced by education systems in Asia. The early initiatives witnessed some countries
developing national MOOC platforms where their universities could offer their MOOCs, while
other universities started by offering their MOOCs through the major providers like Coursera,
edX and OpenLearn. Among the national platforms developed were: K-MOOC in Korea;
jMOOC in Japan, ThaiMOOC in Thailand; OpenLearning.com for Malaysia; University Joint
Alliance Platform in China; Swayam in India; and the MODeL for the Philippines. These
national platforms also provide venues for universities to collaborate in the offering of open
online courses that will serve the learners in their respective countries; facilitate monitoring of
quality of this open learning mechanism, and to push for national policies on the recognition of
learnings obtained from completion of these open online courses. Some of these MOOC
initiatives in the region are as follows:
• Malaysia MOOCsx: Malaysia made the initial steps towards the formulation of national
policies for the awarding of credits to MOOCs towards completion of a degree. Malaysia
MOOCs was launched in September 2014 with four pilot MOOCs and the involvement of four
public universities as content developers. These four MOOCs were based on the four
compulsory core courses that undergraduate students should take (Ibrahim and Rahim, 2018).
Shahar (2016) described the initiative in Malaysia as follows:
… the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA) has been given the mandate to
implement the 'MOOCs plus credit recognition and transfer' initiative, which
would enable all MOOCs courses from Malaysia and abroad to be registered into
the Malaysia's MOOC platform and be given credit”. The purpose is to
“encourage flexible learning among students, reduce the duplication of learning
and recogni[z]e the lessons and experiences gained outside the conventional
classroom”.
• India MOOCxi. India MOOC was also launched in 2014. As mentioned, the national platform
is SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) which also implies
self-learning (Pushpanadham, 2015). India’s recognition of learning through MOOCs is
implied in one of the recommendations contained in the proposed National Policy on
Education 2016xii that provides direct reference to MOOCs as follows:
Open Direct Learning through dual mode universities and through MOOCs
should be accorded appropriate priority because of India’s existing and latent
strength in terms of IT capability, probability of near-term expansion of IT
connectivity and enormous interest evinced by leading Universities and
Institutions in promoting ODL education.
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• China MOOC. Liangyu (2018) described MOOCs in China as follows:
MOOCs started to become popular in China in 2013, and the courses often
benefit those living in remote areas. The Ministry of Education said there are
more than 10 MOOC platforms in China, and over 460 universities and colleges
have introduced more than 3,200 online courses through those platforms, with
more than 55 million viewers.
The China College MOOC, which was established in 2014 by China's Higher Education Press
and Internet giant Netease became one of the largest platforms for MOOCs in China together
with www.icourse163.org, which hosts more than 120 universities and colleges and offers
1,822 courses ranging from professional curricula in higher education, vocational education,
innovation and entrepreneurship (Linagyu, 2018). XuetangXxiii, on the other hand, China’s
first and biggest MOOC platform, was founded in 2013 by the Tsinghua University under the
supervision of the China Ministry of Education Research. It is considered to be the fastest
growing MOOC platform with 11 million users (Shah, 2017), more than 500 partners, and
hosting more than 1400 courses.
According to Ying (2015), MOOCs in China “can be looked upon as a technological innovation
useful in solving problems related to education and higher education [in China], and that the
value of MOOCs to open universities comes mainly in the form of educational equality and
resource sharing”.
• Japan MOOCxiv. MOOC in Japan started in 2013 with two major initiatives as described by
Yamada (2015). The first initiative was when top-class universities of the country joined
international consortia, such as Coursera and edX, for their MOOC projects. The second
initiative was the launch of the Japan Massive Open Online Course (JMOOC) Consortium in
November 2013 as a regional MOOC consortium. It should be noted that JMOOC hosts not
only MOOCs offered by universities but also by companies. JMOOC has 92 members offers
140 courses and lists more than 500,000 students. JMOOC also has three official platforms
described by Yamada (2015) as follows:
JMOOC had three official platforms, “gacco”, “OpeN Learning Japan”, and “OUJ
MOOC”. “gacco” (http://gacco.org/) is an open edX-based platform managed by
NTT DoCoMo and NTT Knowledge Square. “OUJ MOOC” is a multimedia e-
textbook taste platform developed by CCC-TIES Consortium and managed by
OUJ. “OpeN Learning Japan” (http://open.netlearning. co.jp/) is a domestic
integrated learning support platform managed by NetLearning, Inc. The member
institution which plans to launch a MOOC from JMOOC can choose one of the
official MOOC platforms in considering the compatibility between course
content and course management platform. They consider multiple platform
strategy induces diversified learning strategies and pedagogies to cope with a
wider range of potential learners.
• Korea MOOCxv. K-MOOC was initiated by NILE (National Institute for Lifelong Education)
with 10 Korean universities in October 2015 (Lee, 2015). It lists 342 courses and 34 partners
and working on a vision of “a balance of practical opportunities in higher education and
innovation of university education through open higher education system”.
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• Indonesia MOOC. Indonesia has its IndonesiaXxvi, an Open edX MOOC platform, which hosts
the MOOCs initiatives from seven partner universities. After its launch in 2015, it has attracted
more than 45,000 course registrations.
• Philippines MOOC. The PhMOOCxvii was initiated by the University of the Philippines Open
University (UPOU) in 2013 through the university’s uLearn Project (dela Pena-Bandalaria &
Alfonso, 2015). It started with the offering of one course, “Developing mobile Apps Using the
Android Platform”, which was developed in partnership with the leading telecommunications
company in the country. PhMOOC was envisioned as addressing the following: providing
free learning opportunities to those who want to upgrade their knowledge and skills for
employment and/or career advancement; addressing the manpower needs of major industries
in the country by offering MOOCs that would develop the skills and knowledge required; and
helping improve the country’s quality of education through free training of teachers and
making available the MOOCs as OERs which can be used in a blended mode of instruction. In
2018, five MOOC Certification programmes were started through the MODeL platform: Child
Rights Protection and Promotion; eFilipiniana; eService Management Program; Teaching in
Open Distance eLearning; and Technology for Teaching and Learning. The MOOC
Certification program requires the learner to take a set of MOOCs (3-4) and pass an
assessment. As of 2018, the MODeL platform lists 47 courses. In addition to UPOU, other
MOOC providers in the Philippines include SEAMEO-INNOTECH and the Technical
Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA).
• Thailand MOOC. ThaiMOOC is the official MOOC platform for Thailand, which was
launched on 2 March 2017 during the 1st Asia-Pacific MOOCs Stakeholders Summit held in
Thailand (Shah, 2017). The Ministry of Education provided funds amounting to 195 million
Baht to members of the Thai university network who were willing to create and develop the
open content needed. The ThaiMOOC also uses You Tube for its video materials (Nasongkhia,
et. al., 2015).
• Asian MOOCsxviii. Asian MOOCs is an initiative of the Asian Association of Open Universities
(AAOU) in 2014 which started with the formation of a Task Force that will work for the
promotion of Open Licensing and the development of MOOCs in the region (UNESCO, 2014).
The Task Force consolidated the MOOC initiatives of all AAOU member institutions and
created the landing page (Asian MOOCs Portal) to increase the visibility of these MOOCs .
The Task Force also developed the official platform for the Asian MOOCs, the Asian MOOCs
Learning Portalxix , which can host the MOOCs by member universities who do not have their
own MOOC platform. Through a meta data harvester app, information about the MOOCs
offerings by AAOU member universities are automatically reflected in the Asian MOOC
Portal.
2. Open Educational (OER) Repositories. Another initiative in open and distance elearning is the
development of OER repositories. Wawasan Open University (WOU) has its “Online
Collection of University’s OERs, learning objects metadata and other learning materials
output”. The repository holds the WOU’s contribution to the wealth of Open Educational
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Resources and is powered by WEKO, a homegrown repository software developed by the
National Institute of Informatics (NII), Japan. The UPOU also has a repository of the OERs it
developed — the UPOU Networksxx.
3. Open Access Publications. Open Access publications are “freely available online to all at no cost
and with limited restrictions with regard reuse. The unrestricted distribution of research is especially
important for authors (as their work gets seen by more people), readers (as they can access and build on
the most recent work in their field) and funders (as the work they fund has broader impact by being able
to reach a wider audiencexxi. Some examples of open access publications include: the AAOU
Journalxxii; the ASEAN Journal of Open and Distance Learningxxiii; the eJournals of Universitas
Terbukaxxiv; and the International Journal on Open and Distance eLearningxxv.
Transforming Higher Education in Asia through ODeL
The challenges faced by higher education in Asia necessitate not just surface changes but
transformation or “radical change that orients the organization to new direction and an entirely different level
of effectiveness”.
ODeL initiatives in Asia could spearhead or spur the transformation of higher education in the region
through the following:
1. Making available open learning opportunities. Barriers to education and learning come in
various forms. They include lack of: funds to finance education or pay fees associated with
education; access to educational facilities and programs because of geographical and physical
challenges; and abilities and skills to access educational and learning opportunities. In some
cases, lack of peace and order or certain cultural practices and beliefs also present barriers to
mobility of individuals wanting to access learning opportunities.
ODeL initiatives in the region relaxed and, in some cases, totally removed many of these
barriers. MOOCs, for instance, have open admission and do not charge any course fees,
which, in a way, facilitates equity of access to education and learning. As such, education and
learning have become ubiquitous – that is, available to anyone, anywhere, anytime, using any
type of interconnectivity and appropriate device. This system of learning also caters to the
needs of mobile learners. Open universities, as indicated in the previous discussion, are in a
position to vigorously pursue open and ubiquitous education since they are not constrained by
physical resources like classrooms. Moreover, university resources can be expanded and
distributed through the creative use of modern information and communication technologies.
The role of open universities in transforming higher education can be summed up in the
following excerpt from the specific call for action of The Paris Message (ICDE, 2015) for:
… higher education to be transformed in order to be able to deliver change in
scale and speed of response, realising the potential of the digital technologies
within a humanistic framework. Online, Open and Flexible programmes
represent an essential component of the global response, recognising the
systemic and cultural diversity in Higher Education systems.
It should be noted, however, that equity of access is not enough. Open universities can also
ensure equity of learning outcomes by facilitating the learning process for all learners. This
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can be done through the use of open educational resources (OERs) which removes the
restriction of cost to accessing learning materials. Likewise, through the universal design of
learning resources, learning management systems and other collaterals for learning;
inclusivity, likewise, should be put in place to take into consideration not only learners who
are economically deprived but also those who are physically challenged. Technology or digital
exclusion can also be addressed through the accessibility and inclusivity programs of open
universities by making instructional content, learning resources, and learner support accessible
using any device.
The ODeL system also makes it easier to customize learning programs well-suited to the
psyche of Asian learners. As discussed, “Asian learners study with a purpose” and with social
mobility and financial rewards as motivations, many of these learners will seize open learning
opportunities, implying the potential success of these initiatives in the region – success in
terms of enrollment and completion.
2. Promoting the culture of sharing and “coopetition”. Higher education institutions should
adhere to the practice of sharing through open data, open research, open journals, open
textbooks, and other open educational resources. This culture can hasten the building or
construction of knowledge, with research building upon previous research.
The culture of “coopetition” or cooperation integrated into the conventional relationship of
competition can likewise be a transformative mechanism in higher education. While
competition is still present in terms of knowledge artifacts production and student enrollment
and graduation, the culture of openness and sharing can be the gauge of an institution’s
accomplishments. The collaboration happening among the members of AAOU is one example
of sharing and coopetition — in this case, among open universities in the region. This presence
implies a potential influence of AAOU on the role of open universities in transforming higher
education in the respective countries where they operate. Likewise, AAOU serves as a
platform for higher education collaboration for research, institutionalizing the acceptable
quality assurance framework for education, as well as harmonizing standards to facilitate a
credit transfer mechanism.
3. Making the work and living environments the learning spaces. Since students of open
universities study where they are, there is immediate integration or application of learnings to
work and everyday life. Higher education should aspire to this kind of setting, wherein
learners are not alienated from everyday life and living and working.
Further, the immediate application of learning in the workplace can spur action research to
address current industry concerns. This mechanism of converging theory and practice, or
“praxis”, can facilitate theory grounding, which can also spur knowledge construction and
production which is a major role of higher education. Industry partnership is essential in this
mechanism as learners also bring industry context into the learning environment and, likewise,
take the university context into the work environment, which provides an opportunity for
higher education to shape the direction and the nature of the industry.
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The shaping of the values of the people who will shape the future of industry rests upon
higher education, which produces the workforce for industry and can also be responsible for
their continuous capability-building programmes and research developments.
4. Facilitating Change. The ODeL system can facilitate the discharge of higher education’s social
responsibilities which include the following:
a. Training and continuing professional development not only for teachers but for other
professions as well. Open courses like Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) can be
a mechanism to ensure that cost is not a hindrance, especially for teachers, to undertake
continuing professional development and doing this while working.
b. Improvement in the overall quality of education, which, in addition to teacher
professional development, can also be done through the development of contextualized
open educational resources (OER) as a component of open education practice.
c. Making education the core of all sustainable development goals
However, implementing these mechanisms to transform higher education in the region are not
without challenges as well. These challenges include:
1. Recognition of certification of learning through MOOCs. Implementation of MOOCs had
progressed from simple open online courses offered starting in 2008 to nano degrees/mini
masters/certification programs offered by major MOOC providers and universities. However,
more efforts should be exerted for wider recognition of certificates of MOOC completion by
universities/academic institutions for credit towards a degree, and by industries as credentials
for employment or job promotion. The model set by Malaysia and India could serve as a
prototype to guide other Asian countries but what would provide greater impact is MOOC
certificate recognition across Asian countries. This concern about MOOC certificate
recognition, however, has proven to be a function of other factors, such as the quality of
MOOCs and an acceptable framework for the quality of this instruction mechanism;
standardization of MOOC credits to align with the university credit schemes for formal
courses; and appropriate assessment mechanisms to validate learning.
2. Quality of MOOCs and other open learning initiatives. While MOOCs and other open
education practices, such as OERs and open access publications, hold much promise to realize
the vision of opening up access to quality education and promoting equity of learning
outcomes, doubt with regard to the quality of these materials and courses is not without basis.
There are questions such as: Who controls the quality of OERs uploaded in websites? Who
controls the quality of the instructional content in MOOCs? What are the credentials of
“teachers” handling MOOCs and developing instructional content under the OER framework?
The construct of quality and openness is such that the moment material is made public, the
author or developer is already subjecting the work to public and peer evaluation. With the
speed at which information is disseminated at present, the results of such public and peer
evaluation can be made known in a short period of time. Likewise, major MOOC providers,
and these include universities/academic institutions, subscribe to a generally accepted pillars
of MOOC quality which include the credential of the teacher or MOOC facilitator and the
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quality of materials used in the courses. For open access publications, it is recognized that the
publisher has this responsibility of ensuring the quality of the materials included in the
publication.
3. Increase in the level of regional cooperation. The seeds of regional collaboration have been
documented, especially among open universities in the region and these proved to be a
milestone by themselves, considering that the nature of open universities’ operations is such
that one can technically disregard geographical boundaries. The challenge, however, is to
have more areas of collaboration and more universities who are collaborating with one
another. This move can strengthen ODeL programs as well as recognize learning acquired
through the ODeL mode of instructional delivery. Likewise, regional collaboration, especially
in research, will put the Asian context in the global scheme of ODeL and thus contribute to the
level of understanding of the ODeL phenomenon.
4. Sustainability of ODeL. Because of the nature of many open educational practices like MOOCs
and OERs – that is, no direct income is derived from them — the major concern is the
sustainability of the initiative. Universities, therefore, should explore various models such as
instituting policies that would provide work credit to university personnel involved in
developing MOOCs and OERs and teaching MOOCs, securing funding related to open
education programs and initiatives which can include government funding, and partnering
with industries that have stakes in the massive training of potential personnel.
5. Digital inclusion to facilitate learning. One mechanism to ensure equity of access to learning is
through open online courses and OERs. However, it is a common knowledge that there are
still many countries in Asia where Internet access is a major concern. As of December 2017,
only 48.7% of the population in the region have access to the Internetxxvi. Pakistan, for instance,
has only 22.2% of its population using the Internet while countries like Turkmenistan and
Afghanistan have below 20% Internet penetrationxxvii. Creative strategies will have to be found
to make these learning opportunities accessible even offline.
Conclusion
Asia is faced with opportunities for tremendous economic and industrial growth in the next 10 or 20
years. These opportunities, however, will have to be supported by an education and learning
construct or framework that will not only respond to the needs of progressing industry but also by
improving the overall welfare of the people and their environment. Higher education is thus seen as
having to undertake this responsibility as well as consider projected higher education needs in the
coming years.
Open and distance eLearning, as practiced by both open and residential universities in the region can
play a major role in transforming higher education. Opening learning opportunities can impact
tremendously in preparing workers to achieve the potential of the region, especially, in economic and
regional development. Likewise, regional cooperation such as the Asian Association of Open
Universities (AAOU) can promote collaboration and open sharing, and standardization and
harmonization to institutionalize a quality assurance system and thus facilitate a transfer credit
mechanism which is also aligned with lifelong learning initiatives recognition and accreditation.
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While opportunities to transform higher education abound through ODeL, pursuing this also implies
addressing some concerns for the full realization of ODeL’s potential.
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Author
Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria is the Chancellor of UP Open University (UPOU) and the President of the
Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU). She is a staunch advocate of democratizing access to quality
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education for the vulnerable sectors of the society, which has led to numerous public service works and research
to serve lifelong learners by enabling their socio-economic transformation, has contributed to the country’s
progress and to the sustainable development goals. Email: mbandalaria@upou.edu.ph
Cite this paper as: Bandalaria, M. d.P. (2018). Open and Distance eLearning in Asia: Country Initiatives and
Instructional Cooperation for the Transformation of Higher education in the Region. Journal of Learning for
Development, 5(2), 116-132.
Notes
i https://www.justlanded.com/english/Cyprus/Cyprus-Guide/Education/Higher-education
ii http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/asia-population/
iii https://www.populationpyramid.net/asia/2018/
iv https://www.icde.org/paris-message
v consolidated data from http://whed.net/search_by_region.php?region=Asia;
https://www.justlanded.com/english/Cyprus/Cyprus-Guide/Education/Higher-education; http://www.mfa.am/en/study/;
https://ballotpedia.org/Higher_education_in_Georgia; https://www.unipage.net/en/universities_azerbaijan; and
https://wenr.wes.org/2017/04/education-in-turkey
vi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_universities_by_enrollment
vii http://aaou.upou.edu.ph/aim-and-template/
viii http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/read-the-declaration
ix https://opensource.com/resources/what-open-education
x https://www.openlearning.com/malaysiamoocs
xi https://swayam.gov.in
xii http://www.nuepa.org/New/download/NEP2016/ReportNEP.pdf
xiii http://www.xuetangx.com/global
xiv http://www.jmooc.jp/en/
xv http://www.kmooc.kr/schools
xvi https://open.edx.org/blog/highlighted-site-indonesiax
xvii https://model.upou.edu.ph
xviii http://asiamoocs.org
xix http://asianlearningportal.upou.edu.ph/
xx http://networks.upou.edu.ph
xxi https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/authorandreviewertutorials/open-access/what-is-open-access/10286522
xxii http://aaou.upou.edu.ph/about-the-journal/
xxiii http://ajodl.oum.edu.my
xxiv http://jurnal.ut.ac.id
xxv http://ijodel.com
xxvi https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm
xxvii https://www.internetworldstats.com/stats3.htm