The agendas of distance teaching universities: Moving from the margins to the center stage of higher education

Full-fledged distance teaching universities (DTUS), that have been established since the early 1970s in various parts of the world, were perceived by many of their conventional counterparts as unique institutions, assigned with special tasks outside the realm of mainstream higher education. The major thrust of this paper is to examine from a comparative perspective to what extent have the agendas of the DTUs in the last two decades moved from the margins to the center stage of higher education, in relation to: reaching out to diverse student clienteles; professional upgrading; flexible curricula and academic programs; focusing on teaching; harnessing advanced technology to the service of higher education; managing large-scale universities; designing extensive support systems; and globalization and collaboration in higher education. DTUs can be viewed from many respects as forerunners in facing and dealing with challenges that confront higher education systems all around the globe. Nowadays, the boundaries between distance and campus universities are in a continuous process of blurring and convergence, and it is likely that the future interrelations between them will be marked both by a growing competition and a growing cooperation.