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Concepts of Lifelong Education |
The desire for knowledge is never-ending.
Learning is a lifelong quest. It's never too late and you're
never too old to learn.
University study isn't just for school leavers. The university
culture is changing, with more and more people studying later
in life.
And it's a great way to get to know new people.
The story of your education is to be continued.
Education is a powerful tool — a tool you can use to shape your
life and the world in which you live.
By making university study more accessible and achievable, continuing
education programs place the tools of knowledge and learning
within reach.
So, the story of your education doesn't stop here. It's only
just beginning.
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Canadian Virtual University
True to its name, Canadian Virtual University (CVU) has no
campus, no faculty buildings, no student union or football
stadium. What CVU does have is a syllabus of more than 2,000
courses at 13 universities across Canada, which brings education
to rural areas. CVU offers its abundance through "distance
learning" — a combination of old-school correspondence
courses and new online study. In practice, this means students
anywhere in the country or the world can spend years at higher
learning without once laying eyes on their instructors.
CVU — founded in 2000 — offers 30% of its courses in French
and boasts Canada's largest executive MBA program, with more
than 1,000 students enrolled.
Distance learning used to be considered the dim cousin of
"real" classwork. But then the Internet exploded,
and it has become a prominent spot of education ever since.
"The past seven years have been a complete transformation
of the business," Dominique Abrioux, president of Athabasca
University says, "We've doubled in size in the past four
years." No kidding. Even Harvard has added an online
element to its curriculum.
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The Open University (UK) 
The Open University calls it "OU supported open learning".
It's a method of distance learning that's accessible to everybody
living in the European Union, Gibraltar, Switzerland, and
Slovenia. There are also a number of courses which can be
followed online by those outside these countries.
· Teaching Support
An Open University student works within a small group who
are in communication with their tutor by post, fax, telephone
and email. The tutor's function is to mark the student's work,
to comment upon it and offer any assistance required. Students
in the United Kingdom usually have an opportunity of attending
a number of day schools, which bring the group together with
the tutor at specific phases of the course, for the purpose
of group tutoring.
· Course materials
The Open University learning materials consist of textbooks
prepared for each course as well as assignment sheets. Many
student "kits" also include a PC with software,
audio and video cassettes.
· Television: OU, the Learning Zone
The Open University works in collaboration with the BBC in
the making of programmes that will assist many students in
the courses. Known as the Learning Zone, this series of programmes
can be viewed live by students in the UK; students in other
countries can receive the programmes on video.
· Computers and the Open University
Computers are an intrinsic part of many Open University studies.
They are available for subsidized rental to students studying
at Level One, courses such as "Using Mathematics",
"You, your Computer and the Net", and "Discovering
Science". The Open University believes in the importance
of acquiring computer skills, many of which will be valuable
after the student has completed the course.
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Lead-in
