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As other papers have made clear, government interest in Distance Education is high and rising. There is therefore an inevitability that it will play a much larger part in future decision-making. In writing about this subject, Séamus Ó Buachalla has the advantage of much experience and greater insight. He has been a teacher, an inspector in the Irish Government Education Service, and is now a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education of Trinity College, Dublin. In addition he has worked for the Ministry as a planner and, outside Ireland, has done consultancy work for Unesco, the Council of Europe and the European Cultural Foundation. With that sort of varied experience, who better to write an informed and well-researched .paper on this important topic. As other papers have made clear, government interest in Distance Education is high and rising. There is therefore an inevitability that it will play a much larger part in future decision-making. In writing about this subject, Séamus Ó Buachalla has the advantage of much experience and greater insight. He has been a teacher, an inspector in the Irish Government Education Service, and is now a Professor in the Department of Teacher Education of Trinity College, Dublin. In addition he has worked for the Ministry as a planner and, outside Ireland, has done consultancy work for Unesco, the Council of Europe and the European Cultural Foundation. With that sort of varied experience, who better to write an informed and well-researched .paper on this important topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It would not have been possible to have a set of papers on the subject of Distance Education without a contribution from the UK Open University. Peter Zorkoczy has worked there for many years and has a great depth of knowledge not only about the development of that institution but also about the subject of Distance Education as it has progressed in the wider European world. He has led teams of people working, first, to define the European Commission's DELTA programme and then to take part in aspects of its development. He has also played a major pan in setting up the technical and educational infrastructures of EuroPACE, the first European satellite education delivery system. Much of his paper describes real experiences in this latter organisation and acts as an excellent corollary to the paper of Jacques Bieber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open and Distance Learning (ODL) is much more than a didactic or technological issue. On the basis of contemporary approaches to culture, it is both an agent and a barometer of culture: culture influences the appearances, models and contents of ODL, but is influenced itself as well by the ODL phenomenon. Illustration of the point is made through an analysis of the historic roots of ODL in comparison with Europe's contemporary transnational and technology based ODL. The analysis results in an agenda for important cultural issues, such as the institutional character of ODL, its contribution to Europe's competitiveness, the shaping of a European citizenship, and the nature of European ODL in terms of its cultural barriers and cultural assets. The ambiguity of culture typically emerges when looking at language. European transnational, and especially technology based ODL, may be hindered by the multilingual societies of Europe, and remain so as long as language policies are imposed. It is advocated that language policies be replaced with language management, applied in a creative way (eg, by implementing appropriate technical solutions). The final question examined here, is whether these problems and solutions are particular to Europe, or whether there are good reasons for acknowledging the cultural origins, barriers and assets of a wider ODL model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments tend to have strong opinions about education, largely because education eats up a large proportion of their budget. They do not always, however, have the opportunity to express those opinions in reasoned terms in learned journals. Here is the exception. Nicholas Fox has been seconded from the UK Training Agency to the COMETT Technical Unit. He thus has experience both of national and international governmental operations and an almost unique insight into the ways in which government decisionmaking takes place and the reasons why certain programmes are accepted while others fail. In this paper he gives an overview of European Distance Education programmes, and uses examples in the UK and France to illustrate national strategies in that field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In asking Professor Börje Holmberg to write this keynote paper, I believe that I have found one of the most advanced thinkers and prolific writers in European Distance Education. Professor Holmberg has a wide and interesting background. He has been Director General of the prestigious Swedish Distance Education organisation, Hermods, and is currently Professor of the Methodology of Distance Education at the FernUniversität, Hagen in West Germany. He is internationally known, having consulted in most of the continents of the world, and is a Past President of the International Council for Distance Education. He has written several books on the subject, is a Knight both of the Swedish Order of Vasa and of the Finnish Order of the White Rose, and has Honorary Doctorates from the UK Open University and Deakin University in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the role of distance education in the reform of higher education in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). Inherited structures of higher education; Relevance of reforms for distance education; Characteristics of higher education at different times in CEE.

Examines the implications of developments in telematics on university distance teaching in Europe. Background and growth of university open and distance learning (ODL); Applications of telematics in university distance teaching; Dichotomy of ODL and traditional teaching.