OUC/Meet the Open University of Catalonia: Europe's first OERu anchor partner

30 July 2012

Founded in 1994, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (The Open University of Catalonia) was established by the Catalan government to become one of the world's first Internet-based open universities. The Open University of Catalonia's propensity to lead open education futures continues today with their announcement to join the OERu network as Europe's first anchor partner.

Headquartered in Barcelona, The Open University of Catalonia is an internationally recognised online university with a community of over 60,000 students. The University offers over 70 degree programmes from Bachelor through to Doctorate level.

The Open University of Catalonia is committed to forging international alliances which promote sharing and learning.The Universitat Oberta de Catalunya's mission is to be an avant-garde technological university that uses a highly innovative learning model.

The Open University of Catalonia is a "knowledge society university" which believes that universities of the future must exist on the web, and should interact and share knowledge freely for the benefit of society as a whole. The OER Tertiary Education Network's approach to open education is a natural extension of the Open University of Catalonia's core values of diversity, participation, quality, innovation, sustainability and cooperation.

The Open University of Catalonia in Spain also hosts the UNESCO Chair in e-Learning. Consequently, the UNESCO chair network in technology mediated learning and open education is now strengthened by joining hands with the OERu network of member institutions who also host the UNESCO-COL Chair in OER at Athabasca University in Canada and the COL Chair in OER at Otago Polytechnic in New Zealand.

It is fitting and appropriate that the world's first e-Learning open university should claim the accolade of becoming Europe's first OERu anchor partner during this Olympian year hosted by Europe. The Open University of Catalonia's membership now extends the OERu network to five continents, not unlike the symbolism of the five interlocking Olympic rings. The Open University of Catalonia is the 2001 recipient of the coveted International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) award for institutional excellence. Together with Athabasca University and the University of Southern Queensland, the OERu network now includes three of the seven prize winners of the ICDE award for institutional excellence in open distance learning.