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Distance Education Leaders Across the World: Contributions to Learning for Development

The first distance education teaching is often ascribed to Pitman who disseminated methods of learning shorthand by post in the 1840s. More extensive distance education teaching was developed during the 19th and mid-20th centuries, notably by, for example, the University of London (1858) the University of South Africa (1946) and the Open University UK (1971) (Tait, 2008). Since these early beginnings, open and distance learning has made major contributions to the initial and continuing education of learners across the world and will make a critical contribution to meeting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the future.