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European Universities Experience in Distance Education

The article deals with distance education which has become one of the decisive trends in the development of higher education in European countries for the last decades. The spread of distance education is resulted by requirements for openness in higher education that have become a standard for universities and national educational systems. This caused objective changes in educational institutions and educational process. The article analyzes contemporary models of distance education in leading European open universities, such as Open University of Great Britain, Open University of Catalonia, Open University of the Netherlands, International Telematics University UNINETTUNO in Italy and University Aberta in Portugal. The article states that distance education gives a new meaning to student's autonomy due to its peculiarities, such as different means of communication for asynchronous study; individual teaching and learning; students personal responsibility for their successes, terms and pace of work; studying at the place of residence or work. Consequently, distance learning is not an extension of traditional learning opportunities but a new way of organizing knowledge delivery and student-teacher interaction. Summarizing the results of the analysis of the guidelines of the leading European open universities, it can be argued that their policy is aimed at: meeting students' future needs; developing skills of cooperative work; using effective up-to-date technology; giving the second chance for adults to get higher education; providing alternative paths to higher education; widening participation in higher education; experiencing student-centered approach; and promoting lifelong learning. As a result of the analysis, the features of distance learning that can be considered common to all these institutions have been determined. They are: openness and flexibility; networking and mobility; modularity of curriculum design; facilitative role of the teacher; specialized ICTs to support the interaction of educational process actors; virtual learning environment; student learning personalization through the creation of a personal learning environment.