UKOU
The AOU is in partnership with the well known Open University (OU) is the United Kingdom. The partnership agreement includes the following three major items:
- Use of educational contents: The AOU is entitled to use OU's courses in its degree programs. The agreement allows for replacement and update of used curses.
- Accreditation and validation: The AOU will be subjected to the OUVS institutional accreditation and program validation every 5 years. When accredited and validated, the AOU students will be entitled for the OU awards.
- Technology: Exchange of good practices.
The OU is the United Kingdom's only university dedicated to distance learning. The OU have around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students. Ten thousands of the OU students have disabilities. The Open University's style of teaching is called supported open learning . Nearly all students are studying part-time. About 70 percent of undergraduate students are in full-time employment. More than 50,000 students are sponsored by their employers. Eleven thousands people are currently studying for OU higher degrees. Most OU courses are available throughout Europe. Some of them are available in many other parts of the world. More than 25,000 OU students live outside the UK. The University itself is ranked among the top five UK universities for the quality of its teaching.
