Distance Learning in the Mediterranean Area

The globalisation of market economies and the continuous process of transferring and adaptation of knowledge, multiply the possibilities of sharing information and knowledge, and of establishing exchanges between citizens of different cultural levels and countries. In this context, the challenges that educational institutions and, in particular, Universities have to face are linked to the fact that today school or university classrooms are not the only places where one can learn. Everyone, with the right technology, can access locally, knowledge coming from the social and cultural context of several campus-based universities. This reality has developed a new market for the teaching and learning processes: the market of e-learning. We are witnessing an era where software producers and agencies external to training institutions and universities are creating the new skills and educational programs. This process if not controlled and accredited may lead to a less educated society. Citizens of the 21st century have not only to acquire specific competences, but also critical and creative skills; a university education has to provide tools to enable them to solve complex problems and to create models and development systems that satisfy international, national and local needs. They have to develop the knowledge of languages and cultures of the different countries, so as to learn to respect differences and they should also master new technologies and their language. Today the problem, common to all universities worldwide, is how to adjust to this reality, and how to create, within a context of a global economy, systems that develop integrated teaching and learning processes for communicating knowledge. They also have to be open, without borders, and without space and time constraint. In Mediterranean countries the number of students seeking access to higher education is increasing. Their aspirations are becoming more specialised and more advanced. However, university infrastructures and human resources, in some of these countries, cannot meet this demand. Distance learning and e- learning can make a major contribution to this challenge. The educational work carried out by the proposed distance university can also be integrated by mobility programmes. It is for this reason that a general framework of actions is being proposed.