European Commission: DistanceLearningPortal is a success story

Back in 2011, we had the idea of developing a portal that would cover all the open and distance learning opportunities within Europe, and better the image of distance education in general. As a result, we started creating the DistanceLearningPortal.com together with EADTU, Europe’s largest network of Open and Distance Learning institutes, and with help from the European Commission and a large taskforce of leading distance education providers such as the University of London, UNED and The Open University UK. The goals of the European Distance Education Area Initiative, which lead to the creation of the DistanceLearningPortal, have always been to provide increased access to higher education, quality information about available study options, as well as a quality framework to guide students in the study choice process.

Recently, the European Commission selected the project as a “success story” with the help of a panel of experts from the Directorate-General for Education and Culture of the European Commission. This distinction is only awarded to projects that have a strong impact on higher education at the European level. Success stories also serve as an example for other European projects, and contribute to policy making, therefore shaping the future of Higher Education within Europe. Having a sustainable, long-term solution to Europe’s future growth of open and distance learning is key to a successful knowledge economy growth within the EU, and are beneficial to a wide range of actors: universities, open and distance education providers, prospective students (adults, national and international), as well as companies looking to invest in lifelong learning opportunities.

Michael Steinmann – regional director North America oversaw the development of the DistanceLearningPortal:

The project wouldn’t have been such a big success without the help of EADTU and our dedicated partners, such as The Open University UK, The University of London, UNED and the Open Universiteit, who’ve helped us understand open and distance education and shared their valuable insights. Now our vision is to provide learners worldwide with the same transparency in open and distance education that we achieved in Europe, no matter where they wish to study.

To summarize some of the tremendous growth the DistanceLearningPortal has achieved in the three years after the completion of the European project:

1. sixfold increase in the number of listed programmes, from 1,350 to over 8,780
2. extended global focus: the DistanceLearningPortal covers over 45 countries in terms of distance education opportunities around the world and receives visitors from over 213 countries.
3. four times more universities we work with: in 2012, we listed 230 universities. Today that number has risen to over 1,022.
4. doubling of visitor numbers: the number of unique visitors has more than doubled to 126,000 unique visitors per month looking at over 550,000 pages every single month.

Early this year, we also decided to make the portal responsive, in order to ensure that the 50% of our visitors visiting the portal on their smart phone or tablet also receive the best possible browsing experience.

While the developments of the portal already seem impressive, the future developments in distance education as a means of achieving lifelong learning led us to believe that the interest in distance learning will continue to grow. We are not the only ones to think so. When we surveyed 165 leading European institutions about the future of distance learning, they said that within the next five years, they expect a rise in adults in distance education, as well as both international and domestic students.

Similarly, we see a potential growth area in terms of the disciplines available in distance learning programmes. As part of our follow-up research project on adults in distance education, we looked at the offer and demand on the DistanceLearningPortal and noticed that some disciplines are over-represented in the number of programmes offered vs. the number of students searching for the same programmes (e.g. Applied Sciences, Professions & Arts, and Humanities & Art, Social Science), while others are under-represented (e.g. Business & Economics, Engineering & Technology, Life Sciences, Medicine & Health).

Overall, we’re looking forward to further grow the DistanceLearningPortal, and provide a high quality database of open and distance learning opportunities not just within Europe, but at a global scale. As with everything we do, the user always comes first, which is we’re committed to always ensuring a friendly and easy to use website that allows prospective students to find and compare programmes to find the ones that matches their needs and wants best. Furthermore, we will continue to create awareness about the benefits of distance learning and support open and distance education initiatives.