Top Open Universities in the World

Based on the philosophy that education must be easily accessible for learners, open and distance education study programs aid individuals to progress in their careers. These courses aim to offer tailor-made programs to fulfill the growing need of individuals so as to acquire advanced knowledge in a particular field of interest. Leading open universities all around the world offer short term and online courses in a plethora of disciplines. Thus, in this blog, we will discuss some of the famous open varsities spread across the globe. 

What Exactly are Open Universities?

In this day and age, open universities have revolutionized modern education as they offer individuals of all ages an equal opportunity to acquire education at their own pace in the field of their choice. They often have very lenient entry requirements which encourage more students to gain industry-recognized skills and abilities. Apart from the flexibility in terms of age and prior educational qualifications, these varsities offer education at relatively lesser fees. Let us discover some popular open universities across the world!

Open Universities in Australia

In Australia, there is a Public university consortium named Open Universities Australia (OUA) which offers online higher education to students across the world. Under the open universities of Australia, a number of universities have come together to offer courses in the fields of arts, business, education, health sciences, law, and theology and philosophy. OUA is a platform that helps students pursue hundreds of degrees from leading Australian universities, online. With OUA, you can pursue education from some of the top Australian universities from the comfort of your own home. Some of the top universities affiliated with OUA are given below:

1. Curtin University
2. Griffith University
3. Southern Cross University
4. Australian Catholic University
5. University of Southern Queensland

Open Universities in UK

The open universities in the UK are meant to cater to the needs of the students who wish to manage their studies along with other extracurricular or professional activities. They are specifically crafted to fulfil the needs of international students who wish to pursue a degree from the UK, while living in their home countries. You can choose from a number of courses and attain a degree which is completely dependent on the online mode of transaction.

1. University of Liverpool
2. University of Manchester
3. The Open University

Open Universities in USA

There are many universities across USA which have adopted digital mode of education to ensure that every individual gets an opportunity to study in the top universities of the USA. The distance learning courses offered by the Universities of USA ensures that you can opt for those courses no matter where you reside in the world. Starting from Social Sciences, Business, Engineering, Computer Science to Medicine, you can find a course for yourself in these Universities of the USA:

1. Boston University
2. University of Florida
3. Open SUNY
4. Intercultural Open University Foundation

Open Universities in New Zealand

In New Zealand, there are not many open Universities but New Zealand’s Open Polytechnic, a branch of Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology is known for yeh distance learning opportunities that it offers to students from across the world. Its specialisation is in open distance flexible learning (ODFL) and has been catering education since 1946. They offer technical and vocational training and along with that, degrees in varying fields are offered at Open Polytechnic. Apart from that one another University provides space for open, distant learning and that’s Massey University:

1. Massey University
2. Open polytechnic

Open Universities in Canada

The open universities of Canada have acquired a lot of significance in the recent past. The main reason behind this is the flexible learning that these universities offer and more importantly the fact that you can secure an admission for yourself here without a high school diploma. The motive behind this is to provide every student with the opportunity to grow and develop desired skills without their prior educational qualifications being a hindrance. An extensive collection of distance education courses are offered by these universities across Canada from where you can choose the one of your choice:

1. Thompson Rivers University
2. Athabasca University
3. Carleton University
4. Laurentian University

Open Universities in India

If you are unable to pursue regular courses because of any reason, then open universities of India are your answer. Through these universities you can study a number of both graduate and undergraduate programmes. No matter what your field is, may it be in the field of medicine, law, MBA or even a diploma or certificate course, you can find a course for yourself in these universities. The highlight is that now it will be easy for you to find a balance between your educational and professional endeavours. 

1. IGNOU
2. Symbiosis Centre for Distance Learning
3. Sikkim Manipal University
4. IMT Distance and Open Learning Institute

Must Mentions

Harvard, MIT, and Stanford are considered the gold standard not only in regular education but are also counted amongst the best open universities of the world. They offer self-paced study programs which help individuals to gain entry into senior roles, pursue traditional masters programs and learn from accomplished professors and lecturers. 

Harvard Business School CORE Program

Offered by the revered Harvard Business School, the Credential of Readiness (CORE) Program is an online, business-oriented course, that is aimed at individuals who are either at the starting points of their careers or are mid-career professionals. Comprising of three industry-appreciated subjects namely, Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting, the course also includes a final assessment phase. You can access its Business Analytics syllabus form here. As one of the renowned open universities, the Harvard Business School has designed a self faced curriculum for its longer-term extended CORE program which runs for a total of 17 weeks.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology OpenCourseWare & MicroMasters Programs

The world-renowned MIT offers its open courses through two methods, namely the MIT OpenCourseWare, an open-source learning platform freely accessible to all and the more professional MicroMasters program offered through edX. While the former is a collection of resources such as course lectures and materials across a variety of disciplines, the latter is offered in topics of Supply Chain Management, Data, Economics and Development Policy, Principles of manufacturing, Statistics & Data Science, and Finance (with MIT Sloan). Additionally, a MIcroMasters program credential makes you an affiliate of the MIT Alumni Association. With such diverse options, we can also call this as one of the open universities.

Stanford Online

From topic-based, deep-learning courses to professional degree programs, Stanford Online is a renowned education portal offering an opportunity to learn like that in open universities. Course offered include certificates and graduate certificates in AI, Data Mining and Applications, Management Science and Engineering along with MS degrees in Biomedical Informatics, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science and Statistics amongst others. These courses may run for a period between one to three years and the fees may apply as well. 

Other Open Universities

In addition to the above-mentioned varsities, there are several other options of open universities globally that you can explore. The offered courses at these universities range from areas of nursing, IT, and health to mathematics, psychology, etc. The flexibility and effortlessness offered by these universities are unparalleled. Students are advised to check individual university websites about the length of the course, fees, as well as the modes through which the courses are offered. 

Open Universities	Country
University of Florida	USA
Colorado State University	USA
Washington State University	USA
Arizona State University	USA
University of Manchester	UK
Boston University	USA
Massey University	New Zealand
University of Southern Queensland	Australia

As discussed, open universities serve as an important part of the overall education system of any country. It offers individuals the opportunity to get well versed in recent development across multifarious disciplines. Further,  the affordable cost of education adds to the attractiveness of these course offerings. If you are planning to apply for any course, you should carefully assess its objectives in tandem with your interests and inclinations. Take advantage of the 30 minutes of a free consultation with experienced counselors at Leverage Edu and plan your career in the right way.