A Research On Quality Assurance System Of The Open University In U.K.

As the open distance education tends to be more popular and international, the quality of it is also becoming more and more prominent. Quality is essential and the key to the healthy and sustainable development of the open distance education, which consequently makes the quality assurance for the open distance education the focus of attention to government, educational circles and various colleges and universities. The State Long Term Educational Reform and Development Plan 2010-2020, issued by State Council, proposes to" vigorously develop modern distance education", " formulate the national education quality standards, establish the education quality assurance system" and " run the open universities". Therefore, we are encouraged to explore how to effectively build quality assurance system for open universities to provide more teaching services of high quality for learners, and to actively absorb the useful international experience while combining with China’s specific national conditions to construct the quality assurance system of Chinese characteristics for open universities. The Open University, which was approved by the Royal Warrant in 1969, is by far the most successful distance education institution in the world. The Open University, as a pioneer in the world’s distance education, even ranks beyond the University of Oxford in its quality of education. Then what is the secret of its quality assurance? The purpose of this paper is to discover the advantages and experience of the assurance system of The Open University by having a thorough exploration on The Open University quality assurance system, and based on which the inspirations to construct and perfect the quality assurance system for China’s open universities will be put forward, in hope that it will provide some references for future researches in this field.