Page 143 - Open and Distance Education In Asia : Good Practice From AAOU Members

Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) 123

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The new mission of OUSL is to provide lifelong learning
opportunities through Open, Distance and Flexible
Education with a commitment to excellence in teaching

and research.

private sector to offer degrees from overseas Sri Lanka to register candidates for external
universities on a franchise arrangement and a examinations conducted by the University.
very limited institutes their own degrees. Due Regular distance education was introduced
to the limited places in the higher education to Sri Lanka through the establishment of Sri
sector, participation in higher education in Lanka Institute of Distance Education (SLIDE)
Sri Lanka is exceptionally low with a General by the Ministry of Education in 1976. Its
Enrolment Ratio of only about 20%, which objective was to provide tertiary education
is among the lowest of all middle-income in the fields of mathematics, science,
countries, the group to which Sri Lanka management, and technical studies for those
belongs. denied higher education in six conventional
universities at that juncture. The teaching
Introduction of non-conventional higher methodology was printed material with
education in Sri Lanka could be traced back periodical face-to-face sessions to discuss the
to 1972 when the Government of Sri Lanka study material, laboratory work at selected
established the External Services Agency centres and continuous assessment through
(ESA) under the purview of the University of assignments.

The Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL)